THE INTERPRETATION 
OF LITERATURE 



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THE INTERPRETATION OF 
LITERATURE 

A DISCUSSIOS* OF LITERARY PRINCIPLES 
AND THEIR APPLICATION 



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THE INTERPRETATION OF 
LITERATURE 



BY 



W. H. CRAWSHAW, A.M. 

Peofessor of English Liteeatttbe in Colgate University 



MAY 1 1M«) 






Weto fgarft 
MACMILLAN AND CO. 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1896 

All rights reserved 



.c 7 



Copyright, 1896, 
By MACMILLAN AND CO. 



J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



&o JHg mat 



PEEFATOEY NOTE 

Literature is art. Truly literary study, there- 
fore, should begin at the art centre, and should first 
seek to appreciate in a literary work that which is 
essential. Such is the point of view of this little 
book ; and toward such an interpretation of litera- 
ture it would offer an humble contribution. The 
fullest study of literature means more than this : it 
means especially the study of humanity through the 
most effective medium of human expression. Such 
matters, however, are beyond the scope of the pres- 
ent discussion. 



Hamilton, N.Y., March, 1896. 



vn 



W. H. C. 



CONTENTS 

Part I 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES 
CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

"What is Literature ? 3 

CHAPTER II 
The Kinds of Literature 25 

CHAPTER III 
The Substance of Literature 43 

CHAPTER IV 

The Form of Literature 60 

General Outline of Literary Elements . . 80 

Part II 

THE STUDY OF THE VARIOUS KINDS OF 
LITERATURE 

CHAPTER V 

Epic Poetry ( . 87 

Outline for Study . 108 

ix 



X CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VI 

PAGE 

Lyric Poetry 110 

Outline for Study 128 



CHAPTER VII 

The Drama 129 

Outline for Study 151 

CHAPTER VIII 

Prose Romance 153 

Outline for Study 169 

CHAPTER IX 

The Essay 170 

Outline for Study . 186 

CHAPTER X 

The Novel .187 

Outline for Study 207 

CHAPTER XI 

Descriptive Literature 208 

Outline for Study ..;.... 224 

Appendix 
Collateral Reading 227 



As imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name. 

Shakspeke's "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." 

Mas fair als Ikljonlmt V ut *tHpfcmbnt, 
Mxrb nmt als Mafrrlmt tins .entgegeu gdju. 

^djiller's "Die laiinstkr." 

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all 
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. 

Keats'8 " Ode on a Grecian Urn." 

- Art remains the one way possible 
Of speaking truth, to mouths like mine at least. 

Browning's " The King and the Book." 



PART I 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES 



CHAPTER I 

What is Literature? 

Definitions of literature are legion ; and 
most current conceptions of it are vague and 
ambiguous. The difficulty arises both from 
the complexity of the subject and the pov- 
erty of the language. We have only one 
term to denote several distinct things ; and 
the word literature has thus a variety of 
uses. More than one of these uses may be 
legitimate ; but it is surely worth our while 
to seek that which is most significant. As 
a step in this direction, we shall find it 
profitable to consider some of the represen- 
tative theories. 

VARIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF LITERATURE 

The broadest conception of literature makes 
it include all record in language of the 
thought of man. Practically, this means all 

3 



4 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

record of valuable thought ; for of course 
no one would think of applying the term 
literature to every human utterance. 

Narrower conceptions are mostly based 
upon two theories. The first of these is 
that literary quality depends upon outward 
form. There are some who make this the 
sole test of literature. The theory is thus 
expressed by one eminent writer: "To en- 
title anything to be classed as literature, it 
must be so written that, apart from the 
meaning conveyed, its mere style shall be 
such as to give pleasure." In this sense, 
literature has been defined as "the class of 
writings distinguished for beauty of style 
or expression." Such a definition would 
include history, criticism, philosophy, theol- 
ogy — in short, any subject-matter embodied 
in beautiful form. 

The second theory is that literary quality 
depends upon a certain kind of substance, 
form being merely incidental. This theory 
excludes all thought having merely practical 
purposes, seeking only the ends of knowl- 
edge, or appealing only to particular classes. 



WHAT IS LITERATURE f 5 

It includes thought appealing to the general 
human mind or heart, seeking the ends of 
inspiration and delight, having aesthetic or 
ideal purposes. 

These two theories are held either sepa- 
rately or in various modes of combination. 
From the conditions thus created, arise many 
conflicting definitions. These divergent views 
cause much confusion ; and they serve to 
emphasize the necessity of a well-defined, 
adequate, and logical conception. It will 
help us in this direction if we set aside 
for the moment all preconceived theories in 
order to note certain real and natural dis- 
tinctions. 

LOGICAL DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT 

The classification here suggested is four- 
fold. First, we have those writings or rec- 
ords of human thought which are permanently 
valuable, but valuable by reason of some spe- 
cific or technical importance. Examples are 
Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, 
Newton's Principia, or Darwin's Origin of Spe- 
cies — works which necessarily appeal to a lim-* 



6 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

ited and special class. In the second class, 
we have such works as possess a general hu- 
man interest and value, but an interest and 
value dependent chiefly upon the practical 
importance of their subject-matter. Typical 
examples of this class are the standard his- 
tories and biographies — works not remarkable 
for greatness of style or spirit, but still of 
general and popular interest. The third class 
includes those writings which have a prac- 
tical purpose and value, but which also pos- 
sess a certain distinction of manner and are 
marked by certain qualities that make them 
interesting independently of their thought 
value. In this class we shall find such 
works as Macaulay's Essays and Carlyle's 
French Revolution — the productions of the 
great masters of prose style. The fourth 
class comprises those writings whose dominant 
purpose is, not to instruct or inform, but to 
move the soul by their impressiveness, beauty, 
and power. Here are included all the great 
masterpieces of poetry, drama, and fiction. 

Works of the fourth class have all of the 
essential excellences of the other three classes: 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 7 

they are permanently valuable ; they are valu- 
able not to the few, but to mankind ; they 
have the requisite distinction of manner. In 
addition, they have the peculiar purpose and 
spirit which give them greater power and 
vitality. Works of the third class are per- 
manently valuable and valuable to mankind 
in general ; and they possess in common with 
works of the fourth class a value that is 
more than merely practical. The second class 
resembles the third and fourth only in its 
general human interest. It has, of course, 
the permanent value of the first class, and 
in even greater measure. The first class has, 
in common with the others, only the fact of 
permanent value. It will thus appear that 
each successive class gathers into itself the 
excellences of each preceding class, and adds 
to them something by which it rises to a 
higher degree of power and value. 

Definitions of literature have varied largely 
as they included or excluded some one or 
more of these classes ; and there is, perhaps, 
no sufficient argument against applying the 
term to any of them. The divisions them- 



8 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

selves are the important matter ; and these 
are real and inherent, whatever terms we 
may use. The application of the word litera- 
ture is, then, to some extent, a matter of 
choice and expediency ; but, as we have only 
one term for at least four different things, 
and as the validity of our criticism largely 
depends upon a definite use of terms, the 
question of this application becomes one of 
considerable importance. 

LITERATURE AS A FORM OF HITMAN EXPRES- 
SION 

In seeking to reach the most significant 
and satisfactory conception of literature, we 
shall avoid arbitrary judgment only as we 
are guided by some fundamental principle of 
distinction. Such a principle may be derived 
from a consideration of literature in its es- 
sential character as a form of human expres- 
sion. 

The modes of human expression are exceed- 
ingly various ; yet they may all be included 
under the term art. This may not at first 
sight be apparent; but let us consider. There 



WHAT IS LI TUB A TUBE 9 9 

are but three things known to us in the 
world besides God, — nature, the soul, and 
art. The first two are created directly by 
God; the third is the product which results 
from the action of the soul upon nature. Art. 
in this broadest sense, includes all that man 
creates, from the lowest to the highest; and 
just as nature and the soul are the embodi- 
ment of God's thought, so art is the embodi- 
ment or expression of the thought of man. 
The soul has no other medium of expression 
than the nature which it finds about it ; and 
whether it be in the digging of a ditch, the 
construction of a machine, the utterance of a 
word, the painting of a picture, or the writ- 
ing of a poem, man employs nature to embody 
and convey his thought. Human expression, 
then, involves art ; and literature, as one of 
the forms of human expression, takes its 
place among the arts. If, then, we can dis- 
cover some of the essential characteristics of 
art, we shall discover some at least of the 
essential characteristics of literature. Of 
course we are concerned here only with char- 
acteristics that are general and fundamental. 



10 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The Characteristics of Art 

We have just seen that art is the expres- 
sion of human thought in terms of nature. 
This implies that art is concrete. So long 
as thought remains purely abstract, it must 
remain in the thinking mind. In order to 
express the thought, we must embody it by 
talking, walking, painting, writing — by the 
use of some concrete form. 

Art is not only concrete : it is also ideal. 
By this is meant that it is the result of 
imagination. This is true because thought 
cannot pass directly and immediately into 
concrete form. We must first create a men- 
tal image or ideal of the form in which we 
desire our thought to be embodied. The 
thought passes into the ideal, and thence 
into the outward form. Therefore, all art is 
the concrete embodiment of an ideal. The 
two great characteristics of art are, then, 
ideality and concreteness ; and these litera- 
ture possesses in common with all the other 
arts, high or low. 

As man is made up of body and spirit, 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 11 

so art divides itself into two great classes cor- 
responding to the ends, practical or spiritual, 
toward which man's thought is directed. So 
we make the familiar distinction between 
practical art and fine art. Practical art has 
in view the ends of use, while fine art is con- 
cerned with the needs of man's higher nature. 
On the borderland between the two classes 
there are certain arts, like architecture, which 
serve both the higher and the lower ends. 
Indeed, it may well be questioned whether 
each class does not usually involve some of 
the purposes and results of the other. 

The Object of Fine Art 

We have pointed out that practical art 
ministers to the lower man, while fine art 
ministers to the higher. The end of practical 
art is use. What is the corresponding object 
of fine art ? Some would seem to hold that 
fine art consists simply in the concrete embodi- 
ment of the conceptions of man's imagination. 
Such a view would obliterate the distinction 
between the higher and lower classes of art ; 
for such an idea of art is as applicable to a 



12 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

machine as to a poem. The most generally 
accepted view, and probably the true one, is 
that fine art appeals primarily to the aesthetic 
sense, and' seeks the end of beauty. There 
are many, however, who insist that its supreme 
object is truth. This question we must pause 
to examine. 

The very nature of truth would seem to be 
a sufficient guarantee that it is not the main 
purpose of fine art. Truth is the aim of 
science ; and science is the antithesis of art. 
Truth is didactic ; and didacticism is the bane 
of artistic work. Truth is practical ; and fine 
art seeks ends above the practical. In short, 
the essential spirit of the artist is utterly at 
variance with that of the investigator, the 
teacher, the preacher, the orator, and the man 
of affairs. Again, truth is an intellectual mat- 
ter, while art is the product of imagination : 
truth may find its best statement in abstract 
terms, while art is essentially picturesque. 

It is sometimes asked whether there is not a 
distinction to be made between the truth of the 
mere thinker and the truth of the artist — 
whether there is not, on the one hand, prac- 



WHAT IS LITERATURE 9 13 

tical or scientific truth,, and on the other, ideal 
or poetic truth. It may be allowed that truth 
finds two modes of expression, the scientific 
and the artistic ; and this is perhaps all that 
the distinction means. What, then, do we 
mean by ideal truth, or truth artistically ex- 
pressed ? We can hardly mean anything else 
than truth embodied in an ideal conception of 
the imagination. Now, if this ideal embodi- 
ment of truth be always fine art, then truth 
may claim to be one at least of the objects of 
fine art. The fact is, however, that the presen- 
tation of truth in ideal forms does not by any 
means invariably produce artistic work. For 
instance, we may have an ideal representa- 
tion of evil and an ideal representation of 
good ; and both of these may equally repre- 
sent truth. Both, however, are not equally 
artistic ; for no true art can base itself upon 
the representation of the evil and the ugly. 
These enter into a work of art ; but only for 
purposes of contrast, to set in brighter relief 
ideals of goodness and loveliness. Dante's 
Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost do not re- 
fute such a view ; they furnish rather the 



14 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

strongest proofs of its validity. Paradise Lost 
is filled with innumerable beauties of detail ; 
and the great theme which it illustrates is not 
one that ends in horror and despair, but one 
that contains the promise of life and eternal 
salvation. The Inferno also has its wonderful 
beauty as well as its blackness of darkness ; 
and moreover, it is but part of a larger whole 
which presents to the human mind the tre- 
mendous antithesis between heaven and hell. 
Conceive either robbed of its beauty, and it 
would be, not a poem, but a catalogue of infer- 
nal horrors. The true type of the genuine 
work of art is to be found in that famous 
painting of Raphael in which Michael the 
archangel stands in triumphant beauty with 
his foot upon the dragon. The ideal of evil 
and the ideal of good are both there ; but 
goodness and beauty are eternally supreme. 

It might be further asked whether the 
artistic value of such works does not, after all, 
consist in the ideal truth of the relation which 
is shown to exist between good and evil. No : 
not in the truth of that relation, but in the 
beauty of it. In the first place, the relation 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 15 

may be annulled without destroying the artistic 
quality. In the second place, if we remove the 
element of beauty, the work of art is annihi- 
lated ; if we remove everything but that, the 
w^ork of art remains. In Raphael's picture, 
the dragon alone, as a mere representation of 
evil and horror, would not be artistic ; with 
the dragon removed, the angel would still 
retain all the essentials of art. 

The conclusion which seems clear is that 
so-called ideal truth is not necessarily artistic 
truth ; and that truth artistically expressed 
is but another name for truth beautifully 
expressed. In other words, whether the thing 
idealized be truth or not, it must, in order to 
be artistic, serve always the ends of beauty. 
We are thus led to the view that fine art 
concerns itself primarily with ideal beauty. 

Truth does, however, sustain a very close 
relation to art ; for no genuine art can exist 
which violates essential truth. It is none the 
less true, however, that no genuine art can 
exist which violates morality. These things 
are so, not because either truth or morality 
is the main object of art, but because beauty 



16 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

is never inconsistent with the highest morality 
and the highest truth. Beauty and goodness 
and truth are indissolubly linked together ; 
or perhaps more truly still, they are simply 
various manifestations of one and the same 
great principle. In the physical realm, beauty 
exists alone ; and here it succeeds in produc- 
ing art — limited, indeed, but none the less 
real. In the intellectual realm, beauty coin- 
cides with truth ; and in the spiritual realm, 
with goodness. 

Looking at beauty thus broadly, we see that 
it involves no degradation of art. All beauty 
is an expression of the infinite. All beauty 
has power to lead the soul from the simplest 
forms of merely physical loveliness up to the 
supreme source and manifestation of beauty 
in the being of God. Art thus becomes one 
of the great avenues of approach to the divine ; 
and beauty becomes a worship as well as a 
delight. 

Literature as an Art 

We have already pointed out that litera- 
ture, as a form of art, possesses ideality and 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 17 

concreteness. We must now proceed to in- 
quire whether it is a practical art or a fine 
art, whether it serves the ends of use or the 
ends of beauty. What we shall find is that 
literature includes both classes. Like art it- 
self, literature serves either the ends of use 
or the ends of beauty : it may be divided 
into practical literature and fine art litera- 
ture or belles-lettres. Here, then, we have a 
clear distinction between literature in the 
broad and loose sense and literature in the 
narrower and stricter sense. In popular usage, 
it is made to include both practical literature 
and fine art literature ; but it may also be 
regarded, in an entirely legitimate sense, as 
including fine art literature alone. The term 
literature may fairly be used in this limited 
sense, just as the word art is used as synony- 
mous with fine art. In this view, literature 
is one of the fine arts ; and as such, it 
possesses the three essential characteristics, 
beauty, ideality, and concreteness. 

The arts differ from each other, not in their 
essential spirit, but in their medium of ex- 
pression : all the arts seek ideal beauty ; but 



18 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

each separate art seeks for it a different 
concrete embodiment. For instance, sculp- 
ture finds expression through form ; paint- 
ing, through combination of form and colour ; 
music, through melody and harmony of sounds. 
Now, the medium through which literature 
expresses its ideas is human language. It 
has the advantage over the other arts, in that 
its medium of expression is the subtlest, the 
most varied, the most comprehensive known 
to man. Certain limitations are involved in 
these advantages ; but while literature is in- 
ferior to each of the other arts in some particu- 
lar respects, it goes far toward combining the 
capabilities of all. As distinguished from the 
other fine arts, literature is, then, the embodi- 
ment of ideal beauty in human speech. 

Form and Substance 

No theory of literature can be satisfactory 
which does not take into account so funda- 
mental a matter as the relation between form 
and substance. If we hold the view that 
literature is an art, where does the art element 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 19 

reside ? Is it to be found in the subject- 
matter or in the style ? This is an important 
question. It touches the root of the matter; 
and upon the answer will depend all our 
literary conceptions and judgments. 

The theory that art quality is independent 
of substance would almost seem to bear its 
own refutation. All our modern researches, 
whether psychological, philological, or literary, 
tend to emphasize the intimate and necessary 
dependence of style upon thought — tend even 
to show that the character of the thought 
absolutely conditions the form of its expres- 
sion. Unless these researches are entirely at 
fault, it would seem to follow that there can 
be no such thing as artistic quality in style 
without a certain artistic quality in the sub- 
stance. To be sure, the same general truth 
may be presented, now as a philosophical 
principle and now as the theme of a work of 
art ; but it is begging the question to say 
that this is merely a difference in form of 
expression. The change is much more radi- 
cal and fundamental. It is a difference of 
conception ; the subject-matter itself has un- 



20 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

clergone a transformation. Art, then, is de- 
termined primarily by substance. 

On the other hand, however, artistic sub- 
stance cannot alone constitute a work of art. 
Form is indispensable ; form will be determined 
in its character by the thought which it ex- 
presses ; and therefore form will necessarily 
be to some extent artistic. In fine, there is 
no art until the fit thought — the thought 
artistically conceived — has found its appro- 
priate embodiment : this appropriate embodi- 
ment can only be an artistic form or style ; 
and so it follows that style, although inferior 
to matter, must also be regarded as possess- 
ing something of the artistic quality. Sub- 
stance and form are related to each other as 
soul and body. Each is necessary to the 
existence of the completed work. 

THE SCOPE OF LITERATURE 

Art literature will of course include all 
writings which seek as the main object of 
their being to set forth artistic substance in 
artistic form. Some would draw the line at 



WHAT IS LITER A TUBE f 21 

this point, and say that the purpose of a 
work, artistic or utilitarian, determines its 
character as literary or non-literary. 

There is, however, a large class of works, 
evidently not purely artistic in purpose, yet 
possessing certain qualities which are com- 
monly recognized as literary. It seems best 
here to regard literature as a mixed art. An 
author, while seeking utilitarian ends, may, 
by virtue of his instinct and genius, produce 
work possessing true artistic quality. If this 
quality be sufficiently marked, the work may 
be fairly regarded as literary in result if not 
in purpose. Such an application of our theory 
will enable us to include Macaulay, Carlyle, 
Ruskin, Jeremy Taylor, Swift, Burke, and 
many others who must else be regarded as 
non-literary. No hard and fast line can be 
drawn in this middle ground. Much must 
be left to individual taste and judgment. 
The guiding principle involved in our gen- 
eral theory will keep us from going too far 
astray. Our conception of literature will 
correspond closely with De Quincey's distinc- 
tion between the literature of knowledge and 



22 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the literature of power. It will include pri- 
marily the masterpieces of poetry, drama, and 
fiction, and secondarily, such other writings 
as possess real distinction of manner or spirit 
as the result of certain artistic instincts or 
qualities in the writer or in the thought. 
The first and second classes in our fourfold 
division must be excluded, because the works 
that belong to them serve exclusively the 
ends of use. Works of this nature may be 
called literature in the broad and loose sense; 
but they surely do not belong to that art lit- 
erature which alone possesses life and power 
and immortality. 

THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF LITERATURE 

Question is often raised concerning the pos- 
sible subjects with which art literature may 
deal. In spite of weighty opinion to the con- 
trary, we may declare that the range is prac- 
tically infinite. Subjects differ greatly as to 
their artistic capabilities ; but no one can 
safely predict where the artist will find lim- 
its set to his power of discerning and creat- 



WHAT IS LITERATURE ? 23 

ing ideal beauty. Genius has so often over- 
passed the barriers of theory that we may 
well hesitate to declare of any subject that 
it does not possess the capabilities for great 
literature. 

There are those who say that the subject- 
matter of literature is humanity alone. This 
is the implication of Matthew Arnold's famous 
saying that literature is "a criticism of life." 
When we analyze the theory, we see that it 
means substantially this : that even when lit- 
erature seems to be dealing with other sub- 
jects, it is really dealing with man's relation 
to those subjects, and so ultimately with man 
himself. This is juggling with words, and 
does not make any real distinction. All that 
can be fairly claimed is that literature deals 
only with those subjects that have interest 
and significance for man. The artist must 
begin from the human centre, because he 
himself is human, and humanity is the subject 
that he knows most about. He need not stop 
here, however, but may go on to express in 
artistic creation his thought and feeling about 
all subjects outside of himself. 



24 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The subject-matter of literature may be in- 
cluded under six general heads : (1) God, 
(2) The Spiritual World, (3) Man, (4) Hu- 
man Life, (5) Nature, (6) Art. Literature 
has to do with angels, demons, and other 
spiritual creatures ; and in order to separate 
our thought concerning the supreme being 
from our thought concerning spiritual mat- 
ters outside of God, the two first divisions 
are suggested. The term Man is meant to 
denote the human soul in its essential nature; 
the term Human Life, to denote the soul's 
external activities and relations. Nature de- 
notes the physical creation of God; Art de- 
notes the creations of man. The practical 
convenience of these divisions, in literary 
study, will be their sufficient justification. 



CHAPTER II 

The Kinds of Literature 

The manifestations of literature are as vari- 
ous as the thoughts and emotions of the hu- 
man soul which is its creator. In some sense, 
every great literary work is of its own kind 
and has no companions. Still, it is possible 
to note certain broad divisions and to point 
out their distinguishing characteristics. 

PROSE AND VERSE 

This common and familiar division of liter- 
ature is often spoken of with contempt as 
superficial and meaningless. It ought not, 
however, to be so summarily discarded. It is 
true, indeed, that the distinction is primarily 
one of form ; but distinctions of form are 
often significant, if not vital. The various 
arts differ from each other chiefly in form, 

25 



26 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

their spirit and purpose being essentially the 
same. The fact that many works combine 
both forms does not furnish any valid objec- 
tion ; for, on whatever basis we make our 
division, we shall still find a similar mingling 
of classes in particular works. 

The distinction of form is in itself a ser- 
viceable one ; but it implies differences that 
are deeper and more vital. Certain differ- 
ences in spirit correspond with the difference 
in form. Broadly speaking, verse includes 
the higher, purer, and more typical kinds of 
literature — those which most clearly and di- 
rectly seek the ends of ideal beauty ; while 
prose includes the lower and less artistic 
kinds — those in which the pursuit of ideal 
beauty is most likely to be mixed with prac- 
tical and utilitarian aims. Note the ill success 
of didactic poetry, showing how inappropriate 
is verse for unartistic ends. On the other hand, 
note the success of the novel of purpose, 
showing that prose, even in its most imagi- 
native forms, lends itself very readily to prac- 
tical uses. There is nothing surprising in all 
this. Prose is the language of common life, 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 27 

the language of business and of use. It is 
only at a comparatively late stage of develop- 
ment that literature begins to use it as a 
medium of expression; and it is altogether 
natural that the use of the more practical 
form of speech should be almost inseparably 
connected with something of practical purpose 
and spirit. On the other hand, verse is the 
natural and universally accepted medium for 
the expression of the soul's highest thought, 
feeling, and imagination ; and it is almost 
inevitable that these loftier moods will seek 
this more artistic form of expression. It is 
interesting to note that, as thought and feel- 
ing rise and expand, the prose form of speech 
tends to approach more and more nearly to 
verse. 

If it be asked why verse is thus linked 
with the higher mood and with the more 
purely artistic purpose, the reason is not far 
to seek. Verse is rhythmical language; and 
lofty human thought and strong human feel- 
ing tend naturally to a rhythmical utterance. 
All the deep passions of the human heart 
tend to voice themselves in song until they 



28 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

reach a point where nothing is possible but 
broken ejaculation or that silence which is 
more eloquent than any speech. Rhythm, 
moreover, is a great essential element of mu- 
sic ; and in the use of verse, literature bor- 
rows the mysterious but potent influence of 
the subtlest and purest and most spiritual 
of its sister arts. 

From the foregoing, it should be clear that 
the distinction between prose and verse has 
more significance than might at first be sup- 
posed. The difference in form, taken together 
with the spiritual differences implied, ought to 
be sufficient to justify the division of literature 
into poetry on the one hand, and non-poetical 
or prose literature on the other. In asserting 
that the difference between poetry and other 
literature lies in its use of rhythmical speech, 
we are, as has been shown, implying differ- 
ences that are not only real but profound. 

THE GBEAT LITERAKY IMPULSES 

We shall find it serviceable to set aside for 
the moment our previous classification, and to 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 29 

divide literature on the basis of certain great 
impulses that have led to its creation. By 
this means, we shall find ourselves arriving 
finally at certain great types of literature, 
common to both prose and poetry, though 
varying to some extent according as they are 
written in the higher form or the lower. 

All literature is the result of four great 
art impulses. These are : the impulse to nar- 
rate events, either real or imagined ; the im- 
pulse to express the subjective thought and 
emotion of the writer ; the impulse to por- 
tray human life and character ; and the im- 
pulse to describe objects, either real or 
imagined, either material or spiritual. If it 
be objected that this list is incomplete, the 
only answer lies in an appeal to literature 
itself. If other impulses appear, they ought 
of course to be included; but investigation 
seems to show that all actual literary works 
can be classified as resulting from some one 
or more of the impulses here noted. These 
impulses have been at work in literature 
from the beginning ; and, in all probability, 
they will continue, without increase or de- 



30 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

crease, to the end. The particular forms in 
which they have manifested themselves have 
been almost infinitely diversified, the purposes 
that have worked in harmony with them have 
been no less various ; but still, in one or 
another of these directions, literary activity 
has always moved. Here, as elsewhere, we 
see that which is simple in principle working 
out to that which is multitudinous in detail. 
When a new literary form is created, it is 
by the use of these same elements in new 
ways. When prose takes its place as a me- 
dium of literary expression, it is moved by 
the same instincts that have been creating 
poetry for thousands of years. These four 
fundamental impulses furnish a basis for four 
different types of literary work. These four 
types may be called the Narrative, the Sub- 
jective, the Dramatic, and the Descriptive. 

Narrative Literature 

Narrative seems, in almost all literatures, 
the first type to be fully developed. The 
Iliad, the JEneid, the Divina Commedia, the 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 31 

Chanson de Roland, the Nibelungen Lied, the 
Eddas and Sagas of the north, and the Beo- 
wulf are, perhaps, sufficient examples of what 
is familiar to all students of literature. This 
type, moreover, has been wonderfully vital 
and fruitful; and it is an essential feature 
of the chief literary form of our own time. 
There surely can be no doubt that the nar- 
rative form of literature is rightly classed as 
one of the great literary types. 

Subjective Literature 

Man is first attracted by the action which 
he sees going on around him in the actual 
world, or which his fancy pictures as taking 
place beyond his immediate vision ; and he 
produces the narrative of events and outward 
experiences. He then begins to be conscious 
of his own inner life, and is seized by the 
impulse to give literary expression to his 
own thoughts and feelings. He sorrows, he 
joys, he fears, he hopes, he laments, he 
exults ; and as a result of his genius, con- 
scious or unconscious, all of these moods find 



32 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

expression in artistic form. The world's lit- 
erature is full of noble poetry and prose 
which are the direct outcome of the personal 
life and experience of the writers. Without 
need of argument, subjective literature most 
assuredly bears the stamp of its legitimacy as 
one of the primal literary forms. 

Dramatic Literature 

With dramatic literature, the case is some- 
what different. It follows naturally enough 
that, when man has become interested in events 
and in his own personal experiences, he should 
then be attracted to the study and portrayal 
of human life as manifested in other men. 
It is, moreover, beyond any doubt that this 
dramatic impulse has given birth to a vast 
body of the world's greatest literature. The 
only question is whether dramatic literature 
is to be considered as a simple type or as a 
mingling of types. 

It is often said that the drama is a com- 
pound of the epic and the lyric ; and this is 
practically equivalent to saying that dramatic 



THE KINDS OF LITEEATURE 33 

literature is simply a union of narrative and 
subjective literature. It is doubtless a his- 
torical fact that the drama did result from 
the idea of uniting the action of the epic 
with the musical outburst of the lyric. The 
outcome, however, is essentially different, in 
form and in spirit, from either of the older 
types. The element of action is borrowed 
from the epic ; but the interest is transferred 
from the deed to the actor. The drama does 
not incorporate the epic into itself, but simply 
borrows the element of action, which it han- 
dles in an entirely different way and uses for 
entirely different purposes. In short, we are 
dealing no longer with literature of the 
purely narrative type, but with literature 
whose supreme purpose is the portrayal of 
life and character. 

The lyric element in drama is very plainly 
seen in the Greek choruses ; and in one form or 
another, it has appeared in many dramas, ancient 
and modern. It is not, however, absolutely 
essential to the existence of the drama ; and 
where it exists, it does not alter the character 
of the drama as a distinct literary type. In 



34 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the strict sense, the so-called lyric element in 
the drama may not be subjective at all, for 
it represents the thought and feeling of the 
fictitious characters rather than the personal 
thought and feeling of the writer. Indeed, 
such poetry is the very opposite of subjective ; 
for the writer is giving an objective repre- 
sentation of something outside of himself 
rather than an expression of his own person- 
ality. What is true of chorus or song is 
even more emphatically true of dialogue. 
We thus see that, as dramatic literature, in 
borrowing from the epic, transfers the inter- 
est from the event to the actor, so, in bor- 
rowing from the lyric, it transfers the interest 
from the writer himself to the objective char- 
acter whom he is portraying. 

We have, therefore, in dramatic literature, a 
new and distinct type, and one which does not 
owe its essential characteristics to any other 
type or combination of types. The fact that 
epic and lyric have in some sense contributed 
to the drama is no more significant than the 
undoubted fact that epic and lyric often in- 
volve something of characterization. In dra- 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 35 

matic literature, the epic and lyric elements are 
entirely subordinated to the portrayal of life, 
just as in the epic, portrayal of life is sub- 
ordinated to the narration of events, and 
as in the lyric it is limited to an expression 
of the author's own personal character. 

Descriptive Literature 

Logically, this should have been mentioned 
second ; for it is probable that the instinct 
for describing objects follows closely upon the 
instinct for narrating events. It has been 
left till the last, however, because its status 
as a literary type is somewhat peculiar. The 
claim is made that such a thing as descriptive 
literature is a misnomer. No one doubts that 
there is a great deal of description in litera- 
ture ; but it is argued that description is 
always subordinate to some other type, and 
that no literary work exists which can be 
called predominantly descriptive in purpose 
or effect. This latter claim may be true ; for 
it certainly is difficult, if not impossible, to 
find any true literary work in which the de- 
scriptive element is unmistakably dominant. 



36 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

It does not follow, however, that the descrip- 
tive type of literature has no existence. The 
impulse is there ; the results are there ; and 
these make the type. If no representative 
works can be found, then we have the singu- 
lar phenomenon of a great literary type mani- 
festing its power and nature only by diffusing 
description throughout all other literary types 
both in poetry and in prose. In this modified 
and somewhat peculiar sense, the descriptive 
type of literature may be said to exist and to 
claim a place in any theoretical classification 
of literary types. We cannot ignore it ; for 
the evidences of its power are everywhere 
apparent in this subordinate form. Then 
again, there is at least the remote possibility 
that description may become actually in lit- 
erature what it already is theoretically and 
potentially. 

The state of things here noted is peculiar ; 
but it is not hard to account for. The simple 
fact is that the natural limitations of language 
are antagonistic to description. Description 
belongs primarily to the painter and the 
sculptor. They can reproduce objects almost 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 37 

to perfection, while the artist in words can 
reproduce only dimly and unsatisfactorily. 
It is, then, both natural and desirable that 
the writer should confine himself chiefly to 
the modes of expression best suited to literary 
art, using description only as a needed help, 
and leaving its tasks for the most part to his 
brother artist. 

SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VARIOUS TYPES 

Our general classification of literature is 
seen to be a twofold one. First, we have 
divided horizontally, on the basis of form, 
into Poetry and Prose. Secondly, we have 
divided vertically, according to the nature of 
the literary impulse and method involved, into 
Narrative, Subjective, Dramatic, and Descrip- 
tive. As we have already intimated, the sev- 
eral literary types are common to both the 
higher and the lower forms of literature, but 
are subject to certain variations according as 
they are written in verse or prose. The dif- 
ference in the medium of expression has 
brought with it other differences, both in 
form and spirit. There are no hard and fast 



38 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

lines, for literature of the same name and 
class is to be found in both prose and verse. 
The drama is an excellent example : it is 
written now in verse, now in prose, and now 
in a combination of both. This mingling of 
classes is only what we might expect. The 
artist is intent upon the accomplishment of 
his purpose, and boldly makes all possible 
combinations of substance and form without 
much regard to the theoretical harmony of 
the various elements. The great literary im- 
pulses are at work in the creation of all lit- 
erature, manifesting themselves and producing 
their results without special care to keep 
those results simple and typical. Conse- 
quently, it is not possible to make two well- 
defined and mutually exclusive classes of each 
type on the basis of the verse or prose form 
of expression. We can, however, note certain 
classes of literature that may stand as repre- 
sentative of the poetic and prose forms of the 
various types. Recognizing these character- 
istic forms as typical representatives rather 
than as distinct subdivisions, we shall find it 
of value to set them before us. 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 39 

Turning first, then, to the narrative type, 
we shall find that the typical representative 
of its verse form is the Epic, and the typical 
representative of its prose form is the Ro- 
mance. The term epic has a restricted mean- 
ing in which it is applicable only to such 
works as the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is 
used here, however, to denote all poetry in 
which narrative is the distinctive feature. 
This broader meaning is justified by modern 
usage, and also by the fact that narrative is 
the essential element in the ancient epic. 
The romance includes all prose works in 
which narrative clearly predominates over 
portrayal of life and character. 

In subjective literature, the typical verse 
form is the Lyric, and the typical prose form 
is the Essay. As to substance and spirit, the 
lyric is the embodiment of subjective emotion ; 
as to form, the original conception, of it as 
something to be sung has made it the most 
varied and musical of all kinds of poetry. 
The essay is the expression of the personal 
thought and feeling of its author ; and both 
in subject and form, it has great variety. As 



40 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

compared with the lyric, it tends more toward 
thought and less toward emotion. 

The typical poetic form of dramatic litera- 
ture is the Drama ; and the typical prose 
form is the Novel. The typical drama is a 
combination of plot and characters, both being 
presented through the medium of dialogue 
and action, and the treatment of life being 
predominant. The drama is found both in 
prose and poetry ; but in its original and 
typical form, it belongs to the latter. The 
novel differs from the romance as the drama 
differs from the epic — namely, in combining 
plot and character, with character as the lead- 
ing feature. It differs from the drama in its 
use of direct narration. It is distinctly a 
prose type, although such a thing as a novel 
in verse is not altogether unknown. 

We have seen that descriptive literature is 
rightly to be regarded as one of the great 
literary types ; but that, in all probability, 
its only results are to be found in description 
diffused throughout the other literary types 
and subordinate to them. Inasmuch, then, as 
the descriptive type has produced no strictly 



THE KINDS OF LITERATURE 



41 



representative works, it is of course impos- 
sible to note any typical classes. Description 
appears in both forms of expression, and we 
may therefore speak of descriptive poetry 
and descriptive prose ; but we cannot be 
more definite. We are, indeed, familiar in 
poetry with the term idyl ; but it is not de- 
sirable to use this, since it denotes simply a 
poem in which the descriptive element is 
large, but not necessarily predominant. 

The classification here suggested may be 
represented as follows : 





Narrative 


Subjective 


Dramatic 


Descriptive 


Poetry 
Prose . . 


Epic 
Romance 


Lyric 
Essay 


Drama 

Novel 


Descriptive Poetry 
Descriptive Prose 



This analysis may be said to represent fairly 
the classification of literature on natural prin- 
ciples and by a logical method. A more 
minute classification would not be in place 
here ; for a consideration of the various 
kinds of epic, lyric, drama, etc., belongs 
rather to the study of those classes of litera- 



42 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

ture. It is sufficient for us to have noted 
here the great varieties of literature, which 
represent its essential forms and fundamental 
instincts. Beyond this, we shall find that 
literary art emphasizes its liberty and blos- 
soms out into that infinite variety of detail 
which is characteristic of all life. 



CHAPTER III 

The Substaxce of Literature 

In the study of all literature, there are two 
fundamental objects of consideration — namely, 
substance and form. They are so indissolu- 
bly linked together that they are separable 
only in thought and for purposes of analysis. 
Yet each has its own realm ; and by consid- 
ering each separately, we shall gain a more 
complete knowledge of both. We shall here 
consider them from the point of view of the 
artist rather than of the critic, and shall 
follow the order in which they may be sup- 
posed to manifest themselves in the evolution 
of a literary work. It will be clear, from 
this point of view, that substance naturally 
comes before form. The order of the various 
elements of substance will appear as we 
proceed. 

43 



44 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 
THOUGHT 

The outward form of all art is but the 
symbol of something that is inward and spir- 
itual. This inward something we have found 
appearing invariably as ideal beauty, the re- 
sult of the soul's emotion, imagination, and 
volition. These powers of the soul, however, 
are only secondary. The ultimate fact of con- 
sciousness is thought ; and without a begin- 
ning of thought, it is impossible for the soul 
to manifest itself in any way whatever. So, 
behind every conception of ideal beauty, every 
act of feeling or imagination or will, must lie 
something of pure thought. It follows that 
the substance of every literary work is, in 
the last analysis, a substance of thought. This 
abstract thought may possibly not be discerni- 
ble in the completed work ; the picture pro- 
duced by imagination may seem to be very 
far removed from the ' abstract ; but the 
thought must be there, latent* if not apparent. 
If we fail to perceive it, it is because our 
insight is at fault, or perhaps because the 
artist failed to give his thought adequate 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 45 

expression. That the analysis of the critic 
will always be able, in a subtle and compli- 
cated work like one of Skakspere's dramas, 
to set down the abstract thought in precise 
and adequate terms is not altogether certain. 
Some approach to such a result may, however, 
be made ; and even if the endeavours of the 
greatest critics should prove unsatisfactory, 
nothing would be shown except the insuffi- 
ciency of the critical faculty before the work 
of the great artist. We may be assured by 
the very laws of mind that the thought is 
there, whether we find it or not. God has 
involved his thought in nature and in the 
human soul ; and man is still spelling out 
that thought slowly and painfully. He can 
never hope to grasp completely the divine 
meaning; yet he does not count the effort 
vain or conclude that there is no thought 
underlying the apparent facts of the uni- 
verse. So the master artist has involved his 
meaning in the creations of his genius; and 
the fact that we fail to understand him fully 
does not prove that our study is without 
value or show that the work is devoid of 



46 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

thought. In the one case, the finite is trying 
to comprehend the infinite ; in the other, the 
smaller mind of the critic is trying to inter- 
pret the symbol which hides while it expresses 
the thought of the great artistic genius. 

Every great literary work will have its cen- 
tral thought or theme. Without this, there 
is no unity; and without unity, there is no 
true art. It may be difficult to reduce this 
thought to an abstract proposition; but never- 
theless, in its essential features, it should be 
fully and clearly revealed. Often this central 
thought may be all that is apparent ; but 
usually it will be possible to note at least 
its general parts, aspects, or bearings. Some- 
times it is possible to follow a whole course 
of ordered thought. In many cases, the con- 
creteness of the expression will prevent this 
detailed examination of thought in the ab- 
stract; and in any case, minuteness of analysis 
will of course depend upon the nature, impor- 
tance, and difficulty of the thought. As the 
examination of thought is made more and 
more minute, it becomes at last simply a 
study of the meanings and relations of words. 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 47 

Here we pass imperceptibly from the study 
of thought to the study of style. This only 
emphasizes anew the close relation between 
substance and form. 

EMOTION 

The substance of literature is not alone a 
substance of thought ; it is also a substance 
of emotion. Without some degree and kind 
of passion, no literature is possible ; for 
thought, untouched by feeling, remains cold 
and lifeless. Emotion is needed to quicken 
imagination into creative activity ; for with- 
out the impulse of emotion, imagination re- 
mains inert. Passion, therefore, is important 
in art, not only for its own sake, but also 
for the life and power which it imparts to 
the creative faculty. 

The presence of emotion in a literary work 
is a matter that needs no demonstration. The 
emotional element does not, however, fully 
reveal itself to the superficial reader. It be- 
comes infinitely greater and more significant 
as our study becomes more careful and sym- 



48 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

pathetic. We cannot analyze passion as we 
can analyze thought. Our study must be 
largely in the nature of observation; but this 
observation may be critical and penetrating. 
Its results may not be very definite or sys- 
tematic ; but they will be none the less valu- 
able in revealing the power of emotion in 
life and in art. 

A dominant emotion will usually corre- 
spond with the central thought, thus adding 
unity of spirit to unity of purpose. Where 
two or more leading emotions are coordinate, 
they must be so related that the unity of the 
work is not destroyed. There is also likely 
to be a variety of minor or subordinate emo- 
tions. In different works, these will of course 
vary in number, in nature, and in degree of 
intensity. Where they are numerous or subtle, 
observation may follow them in detail. Here, 
again, we should find ourselves passing from 
substance to form; for the relation of expres- 
sion to thought is not more vital than its 
relation to emotion. 

The emotions in a work sustain peculiar 
and significant relations to each other. They 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 49 

also arise from certain causes and produce 
certain effects. So far as these matters may 
be revealed, they are necessary to our full 
knowledge of emotion. 

Again, emotion may be subjective or objec- 
tive. It should be subjective in lyric or essay, 
and objective in other literature. Often, 
however, we find the personality of the artist 
intruding itself into naturally objective work. 
This cannot be ignored ; for it vitally affects 
the character and value of the production. 
It may be well to note here that subjectivity 
and objectivity are so liable to mixture and 
confusion because they are after all only rel- 
ative. It is impossible utterly to eliminate 
the artist from his work; and so all literature 
is to some extent subjective. What we call 
objective literature is simply literature in 
which the subjective element is reduced to a 
minimum. The practical test of objectivity 
is that the artist shall be so far hidden as to 
be practically forgotten in the contemplation of 
his work. This power of self-effacement is a 
mark of the highest artistic genius. The 
distinction between subjective and objective 



50 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

is of special importance here because it is 
chiefly in connection with emotion that the 
consideration of these elements enters into 
literature. 

IDEALITY 

Neither thought nor emotion possesses in 
itself any literary or art quality ; for they 
are real or experiential elements, while art 
is an ideal product. It is only when they 
are acted upon by imagination that we begin 
to have a result that can be called truly 
artistic. Here, then, we have another ele- 
ment in the substance of literature, the ele- 
ment of ideality. With this element, we see 
art quality appearing in the conception before 
that conception begins to take on its appro- 
priate outward form. The picture exists in 
the mind of the artist before it can be trans- 
ferred to the canvas or embodied in language. 

Ideality is that part of literary substance 
which is the product of imagination. It is 
by no means easy to define ; for imagination 
is infinitely subtle and versatile in its proc- 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 51 

esses and effects. Perhaps it may be best 
illustrated bj means of the physical senses. 
Imagination produces pictures and sounds, 
and thus appeals to the senses of sight and 
hearing. Upon this fact most of the arts are 
based ; and arts differ as they appeal to one 
or the other sense. Typical illustrations are 
painting and music. Literature appeals to 
both of these senses, and thus combines the 
functions of the other arts. It is commonly 
supposed to stop here ; but if we consider 
closely, we shall see that imagination in liter- 
ature appeals to the other senses as well. We 
sit down to luscious banquets ; we are fanned 
by cooling breezes ; we inhale the odours of 
meadow and forest. It will of course be un- 
derstood that this appeal is not a literal one : 
we see, hear, taste, feel, smell, only in imag- 
ination. This fact implies that our illustra- 
tion is after all imperfect ; for the senses of 
the imagination can apprehend infinitely more 
than the physical senses. Imagination can 
see "the light that never was, on sea or 
land." It knows that "heard melodies are 
sweet, but those unheard are sweeter." It 



52 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

apprehends the spiritual as well as the mate- 
rial, the eternal as well as the temporal. It 
is all of this marvellous creation that we in- 
clude under the term ideality. It is more 
easy to experience than to understand. As 
with emotion, our knowledge of it comes by 
observation rather than by analysis. 

Corresponding with central thought and 
dominant emotion, a literary work may have 
what we may call a main ideal conception. 
This is usually the imaginative embodiment 
of the leading thought and emotion. It is 
related to them as concrete to abstract. By 
such a process as this, the poet " gives to 
airy nothing a local habitation and a name." 
Sometimes the main conception will have vari- 
ous parts or aspects, corresponding usually to 
different phases of the leading thought and 
emotion. Then, too, there are likely to be 
many minor conceptions appearing here and 
there throughout the work. The relation of 
these to each other, to the main conception, 
and to the thought and emotion, is an im- 
portant matter of consideration. Sometimes 
a work is ideal only in its minor parts. The 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 53 

central thought has been allowed to remain 
in its abstract form, while imagination has 
worked only upon the subordinate thoughts. 
No special difficulty is presented in such a 
case. We need simply to recognize the facts 
and interpret the work accordingly. 

As we follow ideality more and more into 
detail, we approach the meeting point of con- 
ception and form ; for the minor evidences of 
ideality are best seen in their outward mani- 
festations, as in epithets, figures of speech, and 
the like. The tendency to pass at this point 
from substance to form is most natural ; for 
the function of the imagination in art is to 
prepare the abstract for expression in the 
concrete. In a word, idealization is the proc- 
ess by which we pass from a proposition to 
a poem ; and it has its relations to sub- 
stance on the one side and to form on the 
other. As we have seen, however, we may 
observe this process before it has reached the 
final stage : we may consider ideality not 
only in its outward manifestations, but also 
as an inward conception. It is with the 
latter, of course, that we are here concerned. 



54 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The outward evidences of ideality belong to 
the study of form rather than of substance. 

Ideality implies reality ; for experience must 
provide real material for imagination to 
transmute into ideal forms. This real or 
experiential element must, then, exist in 
every literary work ; and we must take this 
element into account in order to understand 
how much is truly the work of imagination. 
It would be impossible to enumerate all the 
realities that undergo the idealizing process ; 
for they are as manifold as the facts of 
nature and of life. We have already implied 
that thought and emotion constitute a real 
element. This is true because the writer 
can embody no thought and can represent 
no feeling which he has not found in his own 
experience or in the experience of other men. 
Imagination does not create new thoughts 
and emotions ; it simply idealizes those that 
life and experience have already furnished. 
Even in dramatic work, the author can at- 
tribute to his creatures no thought and feel- 
ing that are not suggested by his experience 
of life. Besides thought and emotion, innu- 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 55 

merable other realities furnish material for 
artistic work. Real persons, objects, inci- 
dents, etc., are taken up and idealized by 
imagination. History and observation are 
constantly contributing to the purposes of the 
artist. There is no ideal conception, however 
wild and fanciful, which has not in some 
sense a foundation in reality. The real ele- 
ment in art is the marble as it comes from 
the quarry, the paint as it lies upon the 
palette ; the ideal element is added when 
creative genius has transformed the block 
and the colours into statue and picture. The 
artist does not create his materials: for these, 
he must go to the great storehouse of nature. 
Yet he does most truly create that into which 
the materials are shaped. 

BEAUTY 

Literary substance necessarily involves the 
element of beauty. We have already seen 
that this is the great end and object of lit- 
erature as . a fine art. The three great proc- 
esses, thought, emotion, and imagination, must 



56 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 



reach this result, or they have laboured in vain. 
All beauty, however, is not artistic. Beauty 
may be either real or ideal ; and as the real 
has no art quality, it is only ideal beauty 
that is truly a literary element. It follows 
that we must discriminate between the beauty 
which is real and the beauty which is ideal : 
the former is the product of nature ; the 
latter alone is the creation of the artist. It 
is with ideal beauty, therefore, that we are 
here chiefly concerned. 

In the study of all art, we need to beware 
of supposing that a merely intellectual analy- 
sis will exhaust all that the work contains. 
Nowhere is this caution more necessary than 
in considering the element of beauty. Like 
emotion and ideality, it is to be felt and 
seen rather than analyzed. It may be pos- 
sible to make some analysis that is worth 
while ; and the results of that analysis will 
be about all that we can formulate and dis- 
play. Yet it must always be freely recog- 
nized that beauty is to be spiritually discerned, 
and that the best results of study may be 
over and above all analysis. As to what is 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 57 

beautiful, we must perhaps make our last 
appeal to the aesthetic nature. For all prac- 
tical purposes, there will probably be essential 
agreement among all people of educated taste. 

Beauty should appear first of all in the 
main ideal conception of a work. Wherever 
else it might be lacking, we should expect to 
find it there ; for if ideal beauty be the su- 
preme object of art, the total and final effect 
of a true art creation can hardly be otherwise 
than beautiful. Beauty will appear also in 
minor ideal conceptions throughout the work. 
Not all of these will necessarily be beautiful ; 
but beauty, on the whole, will predominate. 
In the search for beauty, we may go on to 
observe the minute details of the work. Here, 
again, we may easily pass into the realm of 
form ; for while beauty exists in ideal concep- 
tions, it also exists in outward expression. It 
may be suggested that there is beauty also in 
the thought, in the emotion, and in the vari- 
ous objects idealized. There is beauty in all 
of these ; but it is real beauty and not ideal. 

Beauty is of three kinds, — physical, intel- 
lectual, and spiritual. The greatness and 



58 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

power of a work will depend upon the kind 
of beauty as well as upon the amount and 
degree of intensity. So far, then, as we may 
determine the kind of beauty involved, we 
shall come to a better understanding and 
appreciation of a work of art. Our estima- 
tion of beauty involves an appreciation of its 
amount and intensity, a true judgment of its 
essential character, and a perception of all the 
lights and shadows which give to the cre- 
ations of genius their vividness and power. 
We shall have gained a higher end than any 
of these, if we shall feel the thrill of its 
power upon our souls. 

The beautiful in a work of art very often 
implies the unbeautiful. Imagination may 
and does create ideals of ugliness and horror 
as well as ideals of beauty. The unbeautiful 
element may also be increased by the realities 
that enter into any particular work. It is 
only the beautiful, however, that is artistic ; 
and so, in an examination of literary elements, 
we must separate the work into its beautiful 
and unbeautiful parts. The unbeautiful has 
its proper place in literature ; for the great 



THE SUBSTANCE OF LITERATURE 59 

law of contrast gives to it a certain artistic 
function in helping to exalt and glorify the 
beautiful. 

It will be evident from what has been said 
as to the relations between the two that no 
beauty is artistic which is not ideal, and that 
no ideality is artistic which is not beautiful. 
This only brings out with more clearness and 
emphasis the fundamental principle that we 
have art only when ideality and beauty coin- 
cide and produce ideal beauty. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Form of Literature 

The subject of literary form presents itself 
in three aspects, — style, metre, and structure. 
It seems most convenient, and perhaps most 
logical, to consider these elements of form in 
the order named. 

STYLE 

Style is the common and necessary feature 
of all literature, whether prose or poetry. In 
considering it as an element of literary form, 
our chief business is to determine what are 
the qualities of good style, and to show 
which of these are distinctively literary in 
character. 

Our general division of the qualities of 
style is readily and naturally suggested by 
the several elements of literary substance. 

60 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 61 

There are certain qualities of style that cor- 
respond closely with the element of thought ; 
and these may be called the intellectual qual- 
ities of style. There are other qualities that 
correspond with the element of emotion ; and 
these may be called the emotional qualities of 
style. There are other qualities that corre- 
spond with the element of ideality ; and these 
may be called the imaginative qualities of 
style. There are still other qualities that 
correspond with the element of beauty ; and 
these may be called the aesthetic qualities of 
style. Our fourfold division of the qualities 
of style is, then, into Intellectual, Emotional, 
Imaginative, and ^Esthetic. Incidentally, it 
offers a striking illustration of the intimate 
relation between substance and form. 

It is necessary now to consider the signifi- 
cance of these several classes, and to observe 
the relation of each to what is purely artistic 
in style. As a means to this end, we shall 
note the specific qualities that belong to each 
class, shall observe their relations to each 
other, and shall seek to indicate their char- 
acter as literary or extra-literary. 



62 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

Intellectual Qualities 

The intellectual qualities of style are Cor- 
rectness, Clearness, and Simplicity. It per- 
haps goes without saying that a literary style 
must possess grammatical and rhetorical cor- 
rectness. No one would think, however, of 
attributing literary quality to a style that was 
merely correct. As to the other two qual- 
ities, there may be some difference of opinion ; 
but it is probable that the same principle will 
hold. That thought should be expressed with 
lucidity and simplicity is certainly a virtue ; 
but if a writer should stop there, his produc- 
tions would hardly be ranked as works of 
literary art. Moreover, though clearness and 
simplicity are eminently desirable in litera- 
ture, they have not always been deemed 
indispensable. We are led, then, to the 
conclusion that the intellectual qualities, 
although they may form a true basis for 
literary style, are not in • themselves artistic. 

Emotional Qualities 
It is probable that every change of emotion 
has its corresponding effect on style. We 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 63 

cannot, however, note a specific quality of 
style for each and every emotion, or even for 
those few emotions that are most common and 
striking. In particular instances, it may be 
possible to note the definite effects of special 
emotions; but we cannot derive from these 
effects any general principles. The most that 
we can do is to note certain general classes 
of emotions, and to point out their character- 
istic qualities of style. 

There is one emotional quality of style 
which has been universally recognized : it has 
been variously designated as force, energy, 
strength, etc. The term used is not very 
material; but probably the word strength is 
the most general and comprehensive. Strength 
is of all degrees and varieties, from animation 
to sublimity. We may include all under the 
general term, leaving the kind and degree of 
strength to be noted in airy particular case. 
Usually strength has been the only emotional 
quality of style that has been clearly recog- 
nized; but it has been very justly pointed 
out that all of the effects of emotion upon 
style cannot be denoted by this term. The 



64 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

various kinds of strength result from those 
active emotions which in some measure agitate 
or excite. Literature, however, appeals also 
to the passive side of our nature through the 
expression of the gentler and softer emotions. 
The best term yet suggested to denote the 
resulting quality of style is pathos. The word 
is primarily applicable to the emotion itself 
rather than to the style ; and etymologically, 
it includes emotion of all kinds. Common 
modern usage, however, justifies its application 
to style and its restriction to the tender emo- 
tions. There is yet a third class of emotions, 
typically represented by wit and humour. To 
the resulting quality of style has been given 
the name of the ludicrous. The word denotes 
that which is sportive or playful, that which 
is calculated to excite laughter : it may there- 
fore be applied to style as well as to emotions 
and ideas. It seems probable that all possible 
emotional qualities of style may be included 
under Strength, Pathos, and the Ludicrous. 
The last two of these terms are somewhat 
unsatisfactory; but terms are merely a means 
to an end. 






THE FORM OF LITERATURE 65 

It will perhaps be generally agreed that 
mere strength of style does not imply any 
claim to literary merit. ,If there is any doubt 
about pathos or the ludicrous, it is because 
these are so commonly accompanied by dis- 
tinctively literary qualities that they seem to 
be literary themselves. They do not, how- 
ever, when standing alone, possess any art 
quality. A writer may excite our tears or 
our laughter and yet be entirely realistic, 
practical, and unliterary. The emotional qual- 
ities of style, then, like the intellectual, are 
in themselves devoid of artistic excellence. 
Perhaps necessary as a basis for literary 
style, the intellectual and emotional qualities 
need the addition of something else in order 
to transmute style into literature. 

Imaginative Qualities 

The result of imagination in literary sub- 
stance is idealit)^. How, then, does imagina- 
tion manifest itself in language ? Clearly, 
first, in concrete forms of speech ; for imagi- 
nation uses language to embody and convey 



66 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

its conceptions. It does more than this, how- 
ever : it imparts to language a power to 
kindle the imagination of the reader to 
an independent activity — a power to suggest 
what it can never convey. The imaginative 
qualities of style, then, are Concreteness and 
Suggestiveness. What ideality is to literary 
substance, these are to literary form. To a 
certain extent, all language is concrete, since 
it appeals to the senses ; but we recognize 
that some forms of speech are relatively more 
concrete than others, and it is to these that 
the term is here applied. By a concrete style, 
then, is meant a style that appeals vividly to 
the imagination instead of confining itself to 
those comparatively abstract forms of speech 
that appeal chiefly to the intellect. This con- 
creteness manifests itself principally in two 
ways. Language may be pictorial, as in the 
use of epithets, tropes, figures, etc. It may 
also have power to convey sound from the 
imagination of the writer to that of the 
reader. It appeals, then, to the sense of 
sight and the sense of hearing. It is at 
best doubtful whether language has the 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 67 

concrete power to convey anything directly 
to any of the other senses. Here, however, 
comes in the power of suggestion. It is one 
of the mysteries of speech, one of the secrets 
of genius. By virtue of its history, its asso- 
ciations, its subtle relations to ourselves and 
to the poet, a word has meaning infinitely 
beyond its dictionary definition. As a com- 
mon flower can call tears to the eyes and 
visions of childhood, so the simplest word 
may have power to make us conceive the 
poet's ideal world far beyond any powers 
of the artist to demonstrate. Suggestiveness, 
therefore, is that quality of style by which 
the writer makes us see and understand what 
he can never really say. It gives greater 
vividness to the picture, greater distinctness 
to the sound. It enables the writer to appeal 
also to those other senses which are so diffi- 
cult to reach through language. It leads the 
soul out to spiritual visions and celestial har- 
monies. It transcends all analogies drawn 
from the world of sense. It will be readily 
apparent that the imaginative qualities of 
style involve real artistic excellence. 



68 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

JEsthetic Qualities 

Beauty of style appeals chiefly to the ear, 
and is allied to the beauty of music. Style 
presents no beauty to the other senses, ex- 
cept as it conveys beautiful conceptions. 
This, however, is a matter of substance and 
not of style. The musical qualities of style 
are melody and harmony. By melody is meant 
the agreeable succession of sounds, the pleas- 
ing modulation of language. Harmony has a 
double significance. It implies first a concord 
between sound and sense. It is also used to 
denote the internal concord of sound with 
sound, of word with word, of phrase with 
phrase, of sentence with sentence. Melody 
and harmony are unquestionably aesthetic qual- 
ities of style. Taste has been suggested as a 
third quality. Taste, however, would seem to 
be clearly a characteristic of the writer or the 
reader, and not of the style. Style may con- 
tain evidences of taste ; but these are not 
taste itself. What is meant by taste as a 
quality of style is that style should be in 
accord with the writer, the subject, the occa- 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 69 

sion, the sensibilities of the reader, etc., and 
thereby commend itself as perfectly fit and 
appropriate. Style undoubtedly possesses such 
a quality ; and it must just as clearly be re- 
garded as aesthetic. This quality of exquisite 
appropriateness may be denoted by the word 
propriety. The term is of course used here 
in its broad and untechnical sense. We may 
say, then, that the aesthetic qualities of style 
are Melody, Harmony, and Propriety. 

The aesthetic qualities of style are of course 
artistic. We may even assert that no style is 
truly literary which is not in some degree 
beautiful. From a rhetorical point of view, 
beauty is the least important of the great 
qualities of good prose style ; from a purely 
literary point of view, beauty is the essential 
characteristic of all style, whether in prose or 
poetry. Rhetoric may not insist too strongly 
on the beautiful in style, because beauty is be- 
yond the reach of rules and teaching. Literary 
criticism seeks for and delights in beauty most 
of all, because it recognizes the beautiful as the 
inevitable outcome of the artistic soul, the per- 
fect flower of human thought and expression. 



70 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 
METRE 

The most general form in which this sub- 
ject presents itself is that of rhythm. In the 
broadest sense of the word — as denoting the 
regular recurrence or alternation of motion, 
impulse, or sound — rhythm prevails through- 
out all nature. It is a physical characteristic 
of human speech, the natural expression of 
lofty emotion. It does not make poetry arti- 
ficial or merely external ; it simply allies it 
with what is most spontaneous ai).d exalted 
in human utterance. As an element of poetic 
form, rhythm appears in a great variety of 
ways. It manifests itself in the parallelism 
of Hebrew poetry and in the alliteration and 
accent of Anglo-Saxon verse, as well as in 
the more regular forms of classical and mod- 
ern poetry. 

The term metre is applied exclusively to 
rhythm in language, and particularly to that 
more regular and measured rhythm which 
depends upon quantity or accent. In this 
restricted sense, metre depends upon an alter- 
nation of syllables of different character. In 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 71 

metre of quantity, the alternation is between 
long and short syllables ; in metre of accent, 
the alternation is between accented and unac- 
cented syllables. Classical metre is a metre 
of quantity. Modern metre is apparently a 
metre of accent ; but in all good metres, ac- 
cented syllables are usually long, and unac- 
cented syllables are usually short. There are 
innumerable and minutely refined distinctions 
as to the various kinds of metre ; but a gen- 
eral division of the subject will answer all 
practical needs. 

The Foot and the Line 

A foot is a single group of alternating syl- 
lables. It usually consists of one long or ac- 
cented syllable and one or more short or 
unaccented syllables. In modern English 
verse, the number of unaccented syllables 
does not exceed two. The relative position 
of the syllables determines the character of 
the foot. In the two-syllable foot, the unac- 
cented syllable may precede or follow the 
accented syllable. In the first case, we have 



72 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the so-called iambic foot (x '), represented by 
the word aldne; and in the second case, the 
trochaic foot (' x), represented by the word 
splendour. The three -syllable foot may pre- 
sent three different arrangements : (1) the 
anapaest (xx'), represented by the word un- 
derstand; (2) the dactyl (' x x), represented 
by the word shadowy; (3) the amphibrach 
(x ' x), represented by the word eternal. If 
these five metrical forms be kept firmly in 
mind, we have a key to the whole of modern 
English metre. Variations from these types 
may be regarded as combinations of the dif- 
ferent types, or as irregularities due to the 
omission or addition of syllables. Such com- 
binations and irregularities are not infre- 
quent, especially in free lyric verse. In 
Anglo-Saxon verse, the number of syllables 
in a foot is very irregular. The pause, 
taking the place of the unaccented and 
sometimes of the accented syllable, plays an 
important part in versification : it accounts 
for many seeming irregularities in metre. 

The precise nature of accent, it is not easy 
to define ; but it is of interest to note that 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 73 

verse accent usually corresponds either with 
word accent or with sentence emphasis. The 
former of these is practically invariable ; 
but the latter accommodates itself to gram- 
matical structure and to rhetorical effect. 
Another important matter is the poetical 
effect of - the different kinds of metre. 
Double rhythm is comparatively slow and 
stately in movement ; triple rhythm, com- 
paratively light and rapid. Iambic metre is 
sustained and dignified. Trochaic metre is 
forcible and energetic. Anapaestic metre 
is swift and vigorous. Dactylic metre is 
light and graceful. The amphibrach has an 
easy, swinging movement. 

Lines of course vary greatly as to the num- 
ber of feet they contain ; and the difference 
in length affects seriously the character of the 
verse. In English verse, the common lines 
are those of four or five feet. The number 
of feet in a line seldom exceeds eight. Bej^ond 
this point, the effect is cumbersome and pro- 
saic. According to the number of feet, a line 
is called monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetram- 
eter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, oc- 



74 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

tameter. The name of foot and line combined 
characterizes the verse : as for instance, iambic 
pentameter. 

Rhyme 

Rhyme is a common, but not an essential, 
feature of verse. Where it occurs, it is of 
course an important metrical element. The 
main outlines of the subject may be presented 
very briefly. Verse without rhyme is called 
blank verse : it may be passed with a mere 
mention. Rhyme is of three kinds : ordi- 
nary, or end-rhyme ; alliteration, or beginning- 
rhyme ; and assonance. Rhyme in general 
is caused by the correspondence in sound of 
different syllables. In end-rhyme, the middle 
and final sounds of the syllables correspond, 
as in hell and tell. It occurs usually at the 
ends of lines, but sometimes in other places. 
In beginning-rhyme, or alliteration, the initial 
sounds of syllables correspond, as in Zight and 
Zove. Different initial vowel sounds are re- 
garded as alliterative, as oav and aid. Begin- 
ning-rhyme is usually confined to a single line, 
whereas in end-rhyme, the rhyming syllables 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 75 

are usually in different lines. Beginning- 
rhyme is characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. 
When we apply the term to modern verse, we 
have reference to consonant alliteration alone. 
In assonance, there is a correspondence of 
vowel sounds, as in roam and float. The syl- 
lables may be in the same line or in different 
lines : they must not, however, be so far apart 
that the effect of the correspondence is lost. 
Occasionally, these three forms of rhyme com- 
bine to produce perfect rhyme : in this case, 
the rhyming syllables are identical in sound. 

Metre, like st3^1e, has its relations to the 
various elements of literary substance. With 
thought, we might suppose its relation to be 
slight ; for metre as such cannot go far in 
the expression of abstract ideas. The music 
of metre, however, in the hands of a master, 
has its logical relations ; for it may modulate 
itself to the proper emphasis and climax of 
thought in such a way as to harmonize with 
a perfect elocution. There can be no doubt 
that metre is closely associated with emotion. 
Rhythmical utterance is the natural result of 



76 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

strong feeling ; the heart instinctively voices 
itself in song ; music is born of emotion. 
Metre is also intimately associated with ideal- 
ity ; for it is metre that most effectively repro- 
duces the music which the imagination has 
conceived. It will also be apparent that metre 
has much to do with the embodiment and 
expression of beauty. The aesthetic qualities, 
melody and harmony, here produce their rich- 
est and highest effects : unless poetic style 
possesses these qualities, metre is but lifeless 
and mechanical. The study of metre, then, 
is not alone the study of accents, feet, and 
lines, but the study of the expression of human 
thought and feeling through the ideal beauty 
of musical speech. 

STRUCTURE 

The term structure is here used to denote 
the large outline or framework of literary 
form, rather than those details which are 
naturally included under style and metre. 
Structure naturally presents itself last for 
consideration, because it embodies these de- 



THE FORM OF LITERATURE 11 

tails and unifies them into a complete whole. 
It is to be observed most definitely and satis- 
factorily in its connection with the individual 
work. Few general laws can be stated; and 
little more can be done in this connection 
than to indicate the essential facts in regard 
to certain traditional forms that have estab- 
lished themselves in literary usage. These 
forms do not rest upon any universal and 
necessary principles ; but they have been 
found to serve well the purposes of the lit- 
erary artist, and it is by modif}^ing and com- 
bining them that the individual forms have 
been produced. 

The ordinary unit of literary structure is 
the paragraph. Smaller elements involve 
principal!}^ the problems of style or metre ; 
and it is only as these elements are combined 
into paragraphs that they concern the structure 
of the work as a whole. The paragraph ap- 
pears in poetry as well as in prose. A peculiar 
and somewhat arbitrary form of poetical para- 
graph is the stanza. Still another equivalent 
of the paragraph is the single speech in dia- 
logue. In prose, the component parts of a 



78 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

paragraph are sentences ; in poetry, sentences 
and metrical lines. In the prose paragraph, 
we look for unity of thought ; in the poetical 
paragraph, also for unity of musical effect. 

These units of structure are usually parts 
of a larger whole. As larger structural ele- 
ments, we sometimes have sections or other 
equivalent divisions. These are made up of 
groups of paragraphs or stanzas. Still larger 
divisions are chapters and cantos : the former 
belong to prose and the latter to poetry. 
Practically equivalent to these are the scenes 
of the ordinary drama. The yet larger di- 
vision of a work into books is common to 
both poetry and prose. The drama has its 
corresponding division into acts. Few works 
would involve all of the structural features 
possible to their class, and sometimes there 
would be more or less change in the order 
here indicated ; but this outline will serve 
to give a general idea of the principal ele- 
ments of literary structure. 

Structure is a matter of outward form ; 
yet here, as elsewhere, form is merely sym- 
bolical of substance. As we may readily 






THE FORM OF LITERATURE 79 

see, structure represents the author's mode 
of conceiving his thought, his plot, his music, 
his picture. There is a very true and deep 
sense in which substance and structure, with 
all their multitudinous details, unite to form 
a grand and perfect unity whose end is the 
complete manifestation of the author's su- 
preme purpose. This larger unity may be 
called the organic as distinguished from the 
formal structure of the work. The study of 
this organic structure is the study of the 
work as a living whole, in all its elements, 
both of substance and of form. 



80 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

GENERAL OUTLINE OF LITERARY 
ELEMENTS 

I. — The Substance of Literature. 

A.— Thought. 

1. The central thought. 

2. The whole course of thought. 

B. — Emotion. 

1. The dominant emotion or emotions. 

2. Minor emotions — their number, nature, 

and intensity. 

3. Relations between the emotions. 

4. Causes and effects of the emotions. 

5. Subjective or objective character of the 

emotions. 

C. — Ideality. 

1. Main ideal conception. 

2. Minor ideal conceptions. 

3. Relations of the ideal conceptions to each 

other and to the thought and emotion. 

4. The real element. 

D. — Beauty. 

1. Beauty in the main ideal conception. 

2. Beauty in minor ideal conceptions. 

3. The kind of beauty — physical, intellectual, 

or spiritual. 

4. The unbeautif al element. 

II. — The Form of Literature. 

A. — Style. 

1. Intellectual qualities. 
(a) Correctness. 



GENERAL OUTLINE 81 

(6) Clearness, 
(c) Simplicity. 

2. Emotional qualities. 
(a) Strength. 

(&) Pathos. 

(c) The ludicrous. 

3. Imaginative qualities. 

(a) Concreteness. 

(b) Suggestiveness. 

4. iEsthetic qualities. 

(a) Melody. 

(b) Harmony. 

(c) Propriety. 

B. — Metre. 

1. The kind of metre. 

(a) The foot. 

(b) The line. 

2. Rhyme. 

(a) End-rhyme. 

(6) Beginning-rhyme. 

(c) Assonance. 

3. Relation of metre to substance. 

C. — Structure. 

1. Units of structure. 

(a) Paragraph. 

(b) Stanza. 

(c) Single speech in dialogue. 

2. Larger elements of structure. 

(a) Sections. 

(b) Chapters, cantos, scenes. 

(c) Books, acts. 



PAKT II 

THE STUDY OF THE VAKIOUS KINDS 
OF LITERATURE 



PART II 

THE STUDY OF THE VAEIOUS KINDS 
OF LITERATURE 

The order of literary study naturally re- 
verses the order of literary creation. The 
writer must proceed from substance to form ; 
the reader meets the external form first, and 
naturally proceeds from the outward to the 
inward, from form to substance. In the study 
of form, we shall find it convenient to con- 
sider first the general structure, then the 
metre, and then the style. In the study of 
substance, it is most natural to begin with 
the element of beauty, proceed next to the 
ideal conceptions in which that beauty is 
manifested, consider next the emotion by 
which imagination has been inspired, and 
come lastly to the thought which lies behind 
all. We shall consider this study as applied 

85 



86 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

only to the representative classes of literature. 
The multitude of irregular and mixed forms 
cannot of course be definitely examined. 
These, however, need present no serious dif- 
ficulty ; for general methods of study may be 
readily adapted to any special work. 



CHAPTER V 

The Study of Epic Poetry 

Epic poetry most naturally concerns itself 
with humanity; and within this field, it deals 
with human life rather than with man. With 
God, it does not often deal in a direct way : 
it turns our thought to Him chiefly as an 
overruling Providence, as the disposer of hu- 
man destiny. With the spiritual world, it is 
frequently and largely concerned. In many 
ways, the supernatural is shown to have in- 
fluence and power over the actions and fate 
of men ; and oftentimes the epic personages 
are themselves supernatural beings. Nature 
is not commonly a direct subject : it is usually 
the background or setting for the action. 
The epic poets do often show a strong and 
true feeling for nature ; but they give evi- 
dence of observation rather than reflection, 
and the result is good description rather than 

87 



88 TILE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

profound interpretation. It is only inciden- 
tally that art is likely to be the subject of 
any literature ; and it is seldom that the epic 
has anything to offer us in this direction. 
Our general conclusion will be that the epic 
is one of the broadest and most comprehen- 
sive forms of literature in its range of subjects. 

In methods, as well as in subjects, epic 
poetry is capable of great variety; but never- 
theless, all epic poems are alike in their en- 
deavour to tell a story in poetic form and 
manner. The chief interest of the epic is, 
then, an interest in events. Its treatment 
of these is usually simple and direct; but it is, 
nevertheless, tolerant of episodes. Most epics 
tend toward romantic rather than realistic 
treatment. An epic poem should be eminently 
objective; for the obtrusion of the author 
tends to mar the work. The treatment of 
humanity often introduces a certain dramatic 
element. As we have seen, the supernatural 
element may also be large. 

The two most notable and most typical forms 
of epic poetry are the primitive epic and the 
so-called modern epic. The former is a growth 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 89 

rather than a creation : the supernatural ele- 
ment is likely to be prominent, and the sub- 
ject is some great racial myth or tradition. 
The latter is likewise on the grand scale ; 
but it is the conscious and somewhat artifi- 
cial creation of an individual poet. Minor 
and less typical forms are many and various. 
The legend recites the deeds of national, 
historical, or sacred heroes ; but it lacks the 
large conception and grand style of the 
typical epic. The allegory deals with events 
and characters that have a secondary or sym- 
bolical meaning : it is so commonly in the 
narrative form as to be a recognized variety 
of epic poetry. The fable is usually allegor- 
ical in character ; but it deals with beasts, 
birds, etc., rather than with men. The poeti- 
cal romance recounts strange and fanciful ad- 
ventures, and often involves a large admixture 
of the remote and the supernatural. The 
ballad is a short popular tale in lyrical form. 
Poetical stories based upon common life are 
not infrequent. Humorous stories are of all 
sorts, from the mock epic to the light tale 
and the parody. 



90 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

This classification is not exhaustive, nor are 
the several kinds mutually exclusive. The 
division is more or less traditional and fa- 
miliar ; but it has a practical convenience 
that justifies its use. 

THE STUDY OF FORM 

Structure 

In structure, the epic is peculiar, though 
not very uniform or regular. The larger 
epics are commonly divided into books or 
cantos : sometimes both divisions are found. 
These divisions are usually determined by 
the stages of the narrative. Smaller divi- 
sions are stanzas or paragraphs. Spenser's 
Faerie Queene is a good example of compre- 
hensive epic structure : the poem is divided 
into books, the books into cantos, and the 
cantos into stanzas. Milton's Paradise Lost 
finely illustrates the use* of the poetical 
paragraph : it is also an example of division 
into books. Where the formal structure is 
less marked, our analysis must be modified 
accordingly. 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 91 

Metre 

Comparatively few measures are commonly- 
used; and there is little variation in metre 
in a given poem. The common epic measure 
in English is the iambic pentameter : the 
iambic foot suits the epic stateliness and 
dignity; and the pentameter line combines 
the requisite ease and majesty of movement. 
This measure is usually in blank verse. 
Very often we have the heroic couplet, 
which consists of iambic pentameter lines 
rhymed in pairs. The Spenserian stanza has 
also been used frequently and with good 
effect. It is a stanza of nine lines — eight 
iambic pentameter and one iambic hexameter 
or Alexandrine — with rhyme order a b a b b 
c b c c. In the ballad there is a freer lyric 
movement. 

Style 

The epic follows in general the tendencies 
of all poetic expression ; but some peculiar- 
ities are worthy of note. As regards intel- 
lectual qualities of style, we may observe 



92 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

that epic poetry tends to greater simplicity 
than either drama or lyric. This is natural, 
for there is a largeness and directness about 
the typical epic that favours a simple and lucid 
expression. Then, too, language lends itself 
easily to the purposes of narrative. 

The emotional qualities of style are apt 
to be less marked in the epic than in other 
poetry. Lyric and drama can express emo- 
tion directly, while the epic usually describes 
its emotion, as it were, at second hand. The 
expression of emotion in the epic is likely, 
therefore, to be less forcible and affecting. 
Strength is likely to be the principal emo- 
tional quality. 

The epic has less need than other poetry 
to make large use of the imaginative qual- 
ities of style. Narrative can secure its ends 
without so much aid from vivid, picturesque, 
and musical language. There is of course a 
large imaginative element in the style of every 
epic poem; but that element is not likely to 
be so nearly commensurate as in other poetry 
with the imaginative element in substance, or 
with the poetical value of the work. 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 93 

We may also expect to find the epic in- 
ferior to the lyric in the aesthetic qualities 
of style. It will, at least, be less varied and 
musical. It may, however, have a simple and 
stately melody of its own, a harmony like 
that of deep answering unto deep. The me- 
lodious sweetness of Spenser and the sublime 
harmonies of Milton are sufficient evidence 
of its capabilities. 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 

In seeking for ideal beauty in the substance 
of an epic poem, we may naturally begin to 
look for it in that which is most character- 
istic of the epic — namely, in the events. We 
may first consider the plot as a whole, to ob- 
serve whether there is beauty in the general 
effect and in the nature of the issue. We 
may then proceed to the separate events or 
groups of events and to minor incidents, ask- 
ing whether the deeds performed and the 
occurrences related are fitted to impress the 
reader as beautiful. Then we may turn to 



94 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the characters, with the expectation of "find- 
ing, in their outward form, in their thoughts 
and relations, in their motives and moods and 
dispositions, illustrations of the same great 
force. As to all this beauty, we must ask, 
not alone whether it exists, but in what it 
consists. Beauty is not to be analyzed and 
dissected ; but it is to be definitely felt and 
carefully observed. 

We should be alert to discover beauty of 
every kind and degree. Now it will be the 
beauty of merely physical loveliness ; now it 
will be the beauty of fine and elevated 
thought ; and again it will be the beauty of 
spiritual graces and powers. Sometimes we 
shall find beauty of an humble and retiring 
type, beauty which it requires the insight of 
the poet to discover and the genius of the 
poet to reveal ; and sometimes it will be the 
lofty and supernal beauty which charms and 
awes the hearts of men.. All of these are to 
be found in epic poetry ; and all are to be 
recognized and appreciated. 

Not seldom, in events and characters, in 
thoughts and emotions, the unbeautiful will 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 95 

appear. Oftentimes, it is so decided as to 
create positive aversion and make us shrink 
in horror and disgust from the pictures pre- 
sented to the imagination. It may even seem 
as though the poet had worked only to a 
result of deformity, ugliness, horror, and de- 
spair. We have already learned that the 
unbeautiful, in a true work of art. must serve 
always as a foil and contrast to the beautiful. 
If in any case the unbeautiful is predom- 
inant, it is so far a blemish upon the work. 
Such predominance, however, is usually only 
apparent ; and a deeper insight into the 
poet's meaning will show beauty to be still 
supreme. The observance of the underlying 
principle is of unusual importance here ; for 
in the epic, these seemingly discordant ele- 
ments are especially likely to appear. 

Ideality 

It is in the element of ideality that the 
various classes of literature most clearly show 
their distinctive peculiarities. That which 
distinguishes the ideal conception of the epic 



96 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

from the ideal conception of other literary 
types is that the epic presents its thought 
and emotion through the medium of an or- 
dered series of events. The study of the 
ideal conception of the epic will, then, be 
the study of a narrative plot. A plot may 
be defined as a complication of events and 
characters for the working out of some par- 
ticular result. The events are of course the 
most characteristic feature. By characters, we 
mean here simply the actors or movers of 
those events : in this sense alone are they to 
be truly considered a part of the plot. The 
third element in a narrative plot is the 
result. This may be as various as the pur- 
poses of the artist. Sometimes, it may be 
the setting forth of some principle or the 
accomplishment of some practical purpose ; 
more commonly, and more artistically, it will 
be the manifestation of some phase of history 
or of life, the illustration of some human ex- 
perience or destiny, the bringing about of 
some desired culmination. 

The practical study of a plot may well 
begin with a statement of its result. This 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 97 

result is the true key to the whole work ; 
and a definite apprehension of it will help us 
to understand the meaning and purpose of 
the various details. Such a statement should 
be made as brief and comprehensive as pos- 
sible ; it should also be concrete in form, for 
we are here studying the product of imagi- 
nation and not the abstract thought. In thus 
stating the result, we are defining what is 
most central in the main ideal conception. 
A full statement of that conception would 
involve such facts in regard to the events, 
the characters, and the result as are abso- 
lutely necessary to give us a general and 
comprehensive idea of what the author has 
planned and accomplished. 

We may then proceed to a study of the 
development of the plot. Here we must 
consider the important events, in their true 
association with the leading characters, and 
in their proper relation to the final result. 
This is something more than a mere random 
recital of the striking points of the story. It 
implies selection, discrimination, understanding 
of the relation of parts to the whole. Our 



98 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

principal task will be to note the various 
stages of the development. Here the out- 
ward structure is an important guide: if the 
poem is divided into books, cantos, stanzas 
or paragraphs, etc., these will mark the 
larger or smaller divisions of the narrative. 
In addition to this study of the progress of 
the plot, we must also note the various threads 
of interest which the author is carrying along, 
and observe their relation to each other at 
each important stage. Still again, we must 
note the effective means by which the author 
has determined the movement of his plot. 
True imagination does not work in wilful 
and arbitrary fashion : it provides reasonable 
and adequate causes for its effects. It is 
these causes that are here in question. The 
beginning of a plot may depend upon a cer- 
tain condition of affairs existing before the 
story opens. The direction of its movement 
at various points will be determined by the 
introduction of new elements — by new situa- 
tions, conditions, characters, events, influences, 
etc. In an epic poem, supernatural interven- 
tion is a favourite means of influencing the 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 99 

course of the action. Sometimes distinctly 
new elements are introduced to determine 
the nature of the result ; but as a rule, the 
best art allows the result to follow naturally 
and easily from the development, and is averse 
to the introduction of new forces toward the 
close of the work. Sometimes we shall find 
these effective means interwoven as a part 
of the development ; and sometimes they are 
more or less external to the plot. In any 
case, what chiefly concerns us is the nature 
and extent of their influence upon the action. 

Such a study of plot will help toward a rea- 
sonably complete apprehension of the author's 
plan and method. It will enable us to under- 
stand the complication of events and charac- 
ters by which the result has been worked 
out. It will be seen that our study also in- 
volves a consideration of the main ideal con- 
ception, of its various parts or phases, and of 
the principal minor ideal conceptions through- 
out the work. 

After considering the general outline of 
the narrative plot, it is often worth while to 
note details of the poet's narrative art. Many 



100 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

particular incidents have a special interest, 
whether for their striking dramatic character, 
their intrinsic beauty or suggestiveness, the 
skill of their handling, or any other reason. 
It may be desirable to notice where the 
author has departed from the natural- chrono- 
logical order of narration, and how he has 
synchronized his events so as to give them an 
orderly succession. It may be instructive to 
dwell upon those arts of contrast, climax, sur- 
prise, suggestion, etc., by which an author has 
given vividness and fascination to his narra- 
tive. Episodes, where they occur, should be 
studied as to their own characteristics and as 
to the bearing they may have upon the main 
plot. A common accessory of narration is 
description : it is important to note the effect 
of descriptive passages upon the narrative. 

Many epic poems present the problem of 
interwoven plots. The only difficulty is that 
which arises from the study of a complicated 
mechanism. The principles involved are sim- 
ple and easily understood. Each of the sev- 
eral plots may be studied as in the case of a 
single plot. Beyond this, we have to consider 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 101 

the union of these plots into the larger whole. 
First, we may note the result of that union, 
which is of course the total result of the 
whole. Then we may study the interweav- 
ing process, noting the original grounds of 
connection between the plots, observing the 
several steps in the development of the closer 
relation, and also the means by which each 
successive step has been brought about. We 
should consider whether the related plots are 
coordinate, or whether some one predomi- 
nates. Episodes are too insignificant and too 
loosely related to be regarded as separate 
plots. 

The personages in an epic poem may some- 
times call for special notice. Where they are 
true and lifelike portrayals of human charac- 
ter, as in Homer or Chaucer, a dramatic ele- 
ment has in effect been introduced. In such 
a case, characters are to be studied just as in 
a true drama. More frequently, however, the 
characters are mere dream figures, interesting 
as curious products of the fancy and impor- 
tant chiefly as the movers of events. Much 
the same is to be said when the characters 



102 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

are animals, plants, etc., or when they are 
supernatural. In the latter case, they may 
have an additional interest as indicating the 
author's conception of the spiritual world. 

The study of plot and characters is for the 
most part the study of ideality. Associated 
with this and suggested by it, is the element 
of reality in the poem. We have pointed out 
that thought and emotion are real and not 
ideal : these, however, do not need to receive 
special examination as real elements, since 
they are to be the subject of separate study 
for their own sake. A real element is often 
to be found in the plot itself. Events and 
characters may be historical or derived from 
actual observation. In such a case, the poet 
is working upon material that is unquestion- 
ably real. Again, he may be working upon 
material that is legendary or mythical, or 
that has been presented by some previous 
writer. Here substantially the same problem 
arises as in the case of historical material. 
We still ask how much the poet's imagination 
has transformed his materials : what was 
imagination in other men is not imagination 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 103 

in him ; and we can credit him only with 
what he has created. In addition to these 
larger matters, there will be many details that 
have been in some way drawn from reality. 

The study of such features of a poem will 
often lead to an examination of certain mat- 
ters outside of the work itself. We may find 
it instructive to consider the real local setting 
of a poem. The historical setting may be so 
important as to call for some study of histor- 
ical facts. Still again, where the poet has 
drawn material from previous writers, it is 
desirable to make some examination of the 
original sources of the plot : these may of 
course be either historical or imaginative. 
Such a study will often be intrinsically inter- 
esting; but its main purpose is to help us 
in estimating the poet's creative power and 
in conceiving with vividness his ideal picture. 
The really important part of our study will 
be the comparison between the work of the 
poet and the materials upon which he laboured 
— the association of his imaginary characters 
and events with the scenes amid which they 
are supposed to be located, 



104 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

Emotion 

The epic usually deals with the great ele- 
mental passions, and seldom concerns itself 
with the rarer and subtler emotions of human 
nature. The mightier passions are wonder- 
fully impressive in their portrayal, so impres- 
sive and so interesting that they have formed 
the untiring theme of the world's greatest 
literature through all time ; but they are not 
difficult to perceive or to understand. Usu- 
ally, some one of these great passions stands 
forth as the dominant emotion of the work : 
this we must observe, as a necessary prepara- 
tion for appreciating the artist's power in its 
portrayal. It will usually, though not inevi- 
tably, be found embodied in the chief actor 
and expressed through his deeds. The minor 
emotions are likely to manifest themselves 
through subordinate characters, and it is for 
the most part easy to discern their nature 
and to estimate their intensity. The relations 
existing between the ^several emotions, the 
causes from whiclvthey arise, and the effects 
which they produce are all likely to reveal 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 105 

themselves without much difficulty to the 
attentive observer. 

In epic poetry, the emotions should be ob- 
jective — natural and proper to the characters 
in whom they appear and not a mere reflec- 
tion of the author's own feeling. Sometimes, 
however, there is an obtrusion of the author's 
personality ; and the imaginary characters 
are made to feel, not as they would naturally 
have felt, but as their creator would have felt. 
We must take account of any such subjective 
element and must note its effect upon the 
poem. When large, it is almost if not quite 
invariably an indication of weakness and lim- 
itation on the part of the author. 

Thought 

As with all other literature, the substance 
of epic poetry is at bottom a substance of 
thought. Our discovery of this thought is 
often made difficult by the objective nature 
of the work : the abstract seems to be almost 
lost in the concrete. Our problem is to dis- 
cover the inward meaning that lies hidden 



106 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

behind the outward symbol ; and this is 
always difficult. Another difficulty is pre- 
sented by the very largeness of the epic : 
the mind is apt to be so impressed with 
some detail or division of the work as to 
lose sight of the larger significance of the 
whole. 

The central thought is to be discovered by 
considering the main outcome or effect of the 
plot — the general impression, lesson, or truth 
left upon the mind by the whole course of 
the action. We are usually helped by con- 
sidering the experience, the deeds, or the fate 
of the chief actor : in the hero, the action 
commonly centres and finds its significance. 
It may often be possible to separate the cen- 
tral thought into its several aspects. That 
thought may present an antithesis ; and we 
need to observe the author's thought upon 
both sides of the question. It may present 
other relations of thought; and we must ob- 
serve each element that enters into such a 
relation. 

We shall be helped to a more complete 
understanding of the thought by considering 



THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 107 

the development of the whole course of 
thought throughout the work. It may not 
always be possible to trace the thought thus 
in detail; but some approach to a satisfactory 
analysis may often be made. The develop- 
ment of the thought will correspond with the 
development of the narrative. The several 
divisions of the plot are likely to reveal dis- 
tinct stages in the progress of the thought. 

The minuteness of our study will depend 
upon the importance and difficulty of the 
thought. Where this is commonplace and 
simple, only a very general analysis is desir- 
able. Where it is intricate and involved, or 
where it concerns some great life problem, 
we must pursue our study more into detail. 
In an epic poem, the thought is usually large 
and important, but seldom intricate : the epic 
tends to unite grandeur with simplicity. We 
may generally be content, therefore, with the 
thought in its larger outlines. 



108 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 



OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structure. 

1. Books, cantos, etc. 

2. Stanzas, paragraphs, etc. 

B. — Metre. 1 
C — Style. 

1. Qualities manifested. 1 

2. Relative importance of these qualities. 
II. — The Study of the Substance. 

A. — Beauty. 

1. Beauty in the plot, in general and in detail. 

2. Beauty in the characters — outward or in- 

ward. 

3. The kind of beauty. 1 

4. The unbeautif ul element — its effect in the 

work. 

B. — Ideality. 

1. The narrative plot. 

(a) Statement of its general result. 

(b) Outline of its development. 

(1) Stages of the development. 

(2) Various threads of interest. 

(3) Effective means of development. 

(c) Details of the narrative art. 

(d) Interwoven plots. 

(1) Study of individual plots as above. 

(2) Result of the united plots. 



i See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 






THE STUDY OF EPIC POETRY 109 

(3) Development and means of the in- 

terweaving process. 

(4) Relation of the individual plots to 

each other. 

2. The characters. 

(a) Human beings. 

(b) Supernatural beings, animals, etc. 

3. The real element. 

(a) Thought and emotion. 

(b) Real basis for plot or characters. 

(1) Real local setting. 

(2) Historical setting. 

(3) Sources of the plot. 

C. — Emotion. 1 

D. — Thought. 1 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Study of Lyric Poetry 

The lyric may deal with almost any subject 
of human thinking. It will of course deal 
primarily with humanity. In contrast with 
the epic, it tends to deal with man rather than 
with human life, though the latter is by no 
means ignored. God and the spiritual world 
are frequent subjects of lyric treatment ; for 
toward the realm of the supernatural, the emo- 
tion of the poet is often directed. We may 
see practical illustration of this in the great 
number of sacred lyrics and hymns. Nature 
also has been the frequent theme of lyric song. 
Indeed, it is in our modern lyric poetry that 
nature has been treated with the greatest ful- 
ness, sympathy, and insight. Art is not often 
a direct subject of poetry ; but it is more fre- 
quently treated in lyric poetry than elsewhere. 
Lyrics contain some of the deepest and most 

110 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 111 

significant sayings about art that have ever 
been uttered. From all of this, it will appear 
that the lyric has an even wider range than 
the epic : the only practical limitation lies in 
the possibility of arousing the poet's feeling. 

The most essential characteristic of the lyric 
is its poetical expression of subjective emotion 
upon any possible subject. The lyric is there- 
fore more intensely passionate than any other 
kind of poetry. This fact is at the bottom of 
some of its most striking peculiarities. It is 
this that makes it of all poetry the most mu- 
sical. Its variety springs from the wonderful 
variety of human emotions. Its brevity is 
also associated with its passion ; for the ex- 
pression of emotion is likely to be condensed 
in proportion to its intensity. By virtue of 
the fact that it is usually a single and vehe- 
ment outburst of warm human passion, the 
lyric is apt to embody the very essence and 
flower of poetry. 

Lyric poetry may be classified upon three 
different principles of division : (1) the nature 
of the subject-matter ; (2) the nature of the 
prevailing emotion ; (3) the external form. 



112 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

Traditional classifications are made without 
much discrimination of these principles. 

We may have lyrics upon any of the six 
great subjects, — God, the Spiritual World, 
Man, Human Life, Nature, Art. Under any 
one of these, we may of course subdivide 
indefinitely. Traditionally, on the basis of 
subject-matter, we have sacred lyrics, lyrics 
of nature, and vers de societe. These will 
readily suggest the general classes to which 
they belong. 

Classification on the basis of the prevailing 
emotion is sufficiently easy, and may be al- 
most indefinitely extended. We shall content 
ourselves with noting the most commonly rec- 
ognized classes. Most important of all is 
the love lyric. Besides this, we have the 
devotional lyric, corresponding for the most 
part with the sacred lyric ; the lyric of grief ; 
the lyric of sentiment ; the humorous lyric ; 
the reflective lyric, where emotion is largely 
affected by thought. 

The chief lyric forms are the song, the 
ode, the sonnet, and the quatrain. The song 
denotes any poem adapted to be sung. It is 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 113 

usually written in some common measure, 
with an easy and simple arrangement of 
rhymes, and is divided into stanzas. The 
ode is characterized by noble sentiment, seri- 
ous purpose, and sustained dignity of style. 
It is, therefore, not determined entirely by 
form. It has many features of the song, but 
is usually longer. In its freer form, it is 
written in stanzas of varying length and 
structure, and with a variety of measures. 
The Pindaric ode is more elaborate and arti- 
ficial. The metre is iambic. The poem is 
divided into three groups, each group con- 
taining three dissimilar stanzas, called re- 
spectively the strophe, the antistrophe, and 
the epode. The groups are alike in struc- 
ture. The typical sonnet contains fourteen 
iambic pentameter lines. The rhyme order 
is varied ; but there is usually a division into 
an octave and a sestette or two quatrains and 
two tercets. Theoretically, the first eight 
lines contain the development, and the last 
six, the conclusion. The quatrain is practi- 
cally a stanza of four lines, with rhymes 
usually alternating. Minor lyric forms are 



114 THE INTERPRETATION' OF LITERATURE 

the rondeau, rondel, triolet, ballade, and vil- 
lanelle. They are of French origin, but have 
been much used by recent writers of light 
verse in English. They are very artificial, 
and contain little important poetry. 



THE STUDY OF FORM 

Structure 

The lyric is so varied in form that we 
cannot designate any one structure as typical. 
As we have seen, the most important tradi- 
tional forms are those of the song, the ode, 
the sonnet, and the quatrain, while minor 
forms are the rondeau, rondel, triolet, ballade, 
and villanelle. Where any of these forms 
occurs, we may easily observe its general 
characteristics and its individual peculiarities. 
The study of the stanza is an important part 
of the study of lyric structure. Stanza- 
structure has to do chiefly with the number 
and arrangement of lines and with the order 
of rhymes. We need to note also how stanzas 
are combined to form the whole 






THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 115 

Metre 

Lyric poetry is nowhere more varied than 
in its metre ; and it therefore offers an in- 
teresting field for the study of this element 
of poetic form. It uses feet of all kinds and 
lines of every length. No particular foot is 
especially characteristic, the kind of foot 
being determined chiefly by the spirit of the 
poem. The most common lines are the tetram- 
eter and the pentameter. The use of end- 
rhyme is well-nigh universal ; and there is 
likely to be abundance of alliteration and asso- 
nance. These elements determine in large 
measure the quality and effect of the music. 
The very diversity of lyric metre makes spe- 
cific directions impracticable. An application 
of general principles to each particular poem 
will, however, be our sufficient guide. 

Style 

In style, , the lyric is subject to the same 
laws as other literature ; but the various qual- 
ities are nowhere manifested more fully and 



116 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

vividly. We may expect usually to find the 
intellectual qualities less strongly marked ; for 
the lyric is not predominantly intellectual in 
its substance. It will generally be sufficiently 
clear and correct ; but it is likely to be less 
simple than the epic. Lack of clearness may 
appear where the poet becomes too rhapsod- 
ical or dithyrambic, or where he allows the 
intrusion of subtle and abstruse thought. 

Emotional qualities we shall expect to find 
very prominent. The particular qualities will 
of course depend upon the emotions expressed. 
Pathos is very common ; and every poem will 
contain some kind and degree of strength. 
The ludicrous is not infrequent. 

The imaginative qualities are also likely to 
be noteworthy. Emotion tends to quicken 
imagination ; and lyric style is therefore 
vivid, picturesque, and suggestive. The study 
of imaginative qualities is a study of the 
power of words to reproduce imaginative ef- 
fects and to incite imaginative activity. We 
seek, then, to discover the elements of style that 
possess concreteness or suggestiveness, and also 
to observe the nature of the effects produced. 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 111 

Xo less prominent are the aesthetic qual- 
ities ; for the lyric is the most musical of all 
forms of poetry. Perhaps the best way of 
appreciating its melody and harmony is by 
a vocal rendering which shall reproduce them 
to the ear. We may also make some critical 
observation of these qualities. Propriety of 
style is an appeal to our taste ; and it is 
only by taste that it can be estimated. All 
of these matters are probably of more im- 
portance in lyric poetry than in any other 
form of literature. 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 

Doubtless the first impulse and purpose of 
a lyric poem may be found in the poet's de- 
sire to utter his thought and feeling on a 
given subject. If, however, it is to be a true 
work of art, it must manifest that beauty 
which is the goal and crown of all artistic 
creation. It cannot be asserted too strongly 
that the poet's message is important ; but, if 
the message is to take the form of a true 



118 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

poem, it must be presented in accordance 
with the laws of ideal beauty. 

Where, then, should we look for ideal 
beauty in the substance of a lyric poem ? 
One might almost answer, " every where " ; for 
we expect a lyric to be the very quintessence 
of poetry, and therefore of beauty. First, in 
the various pictures which embody the several 
thoughts and emotions. Beyond this we may 
look for a thousand details of beauty in the 
substance, now flashing in a thought, now 
lurking in a figure, now revealing itself in 
a subtle suggestion. 

We shall find beauty of all degrees and of 
all kinds — physical, intellectual, and spiritual. 
Generally speaking, the beauty of the lyric is 
exquisite, tender, graceful, fascinating, rather 
than grand, tragic, or sublime. Of course, all 
this depends upon the nature of the poet and 
the poet's mood; but for the most part, the 
lyric is attuned to the lyre rather than to 
the organ. 

The unbeautiful element is less important 
in the lyric than in other poetry; for the 
lyric does not deal so much in vivid con- 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 119 

trasts, in the lights and shadoAvs of life. 
Even where the poet is dealing with sorrow, 
suffering, death, these naturally gloomy sub- 
jects are usually made to reveal at once their 
hidden beauty, while their hideousness re- 
ceives little emphasis. 

Ideality 

In the epic, the ideal element takes the 
form of a series of events woven together 
into a narrative plot. In the lyric, there is 
no such definite principle : all that we can 
say is that the ideal element in lyric poetry 
is some imaginative symbol of the thought 
and emotion. What the symbol shall be, we 
cannot predetermine. It may be a dream, a 
person, a scene, a picture, an event — a thou- 
sand, a million, things. Each individual poem 
may find a new symbol ; for the almost infi- 
nite variety of thought and emotion leads to 
an equal variety of ideal forms. The symbol 
seems to be related to thought and emotion 
in at least three general ways. First, it may 
embody them. In other cases, they are not 



120 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

so much embodied in it as reflected by it. 
The poet seems to express his thought and 
feeling independently of the imaginative form, 
and then to choose some symbol that illus- 
trates or vivifies them. In still other cases, 
some actual object seems to have suggested 
to the poet certain thought and emotion 
which in turn become symbolized by it : in 
such a process, the object itself, originally 
real, becomes idealized. 

To determine, in any poem, the nature of the 
central symbol is to define for our imagina- 
tion the main ideal conception. Sometimes, 
we seem to have no main ideal conception, 
the leading thought and emotion being ex- 
pressed abstractly. This is not to say that 
the poem lacks ideality : it is simply to say 
that the ideality appears in the minor parts 
of the work rather than in a main concep- 
tion. A lyric poem is likely to contain in 
its minor conceptions many evidences of im- 
aginative power, appearing as pictures, images, 
illustrations, figures of speech, etc. It is de- 
sirable to note the relations of these to each 
other, and to see how far they unite to form 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 121 

a consistent whole. It may be well to bear 
in mind that we have reference here only to 
the ideal element in substance and not to the 
imaginative qualities of style : the distinction 
to be observed is that between the idea and 
the words which embody it. 

The real element in lyric poetry is full of 
significance. Since the lyric is subjective, 
this real element is drawn primarily from the 
inner life and experience of the poet rather 
than from the outer world. It may. then, be 
called chiefly an experiential element. It 
will be seen that thought and emotion are 
real elements here in a sense which is not 
true of other kinds of poetry. They are real, 
in a word, because thej^ have been a vital 
part of the actual life experience of the poet. 
In a study of the relation between real and 
ideal, therefore, we have first to ask how the 
poet has transmuted into ideal forms the 
thought and feeling which had been a part 
of his life and being. This inquiry w^ill have 
more than an artistic interest ; for it will 
also reveal to us the inner world of the 
poet's mind and soul. In some cases, this 



122 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

interest will be little more than a matter of 
intellectual curiosity ; but in all lyric poetry 
that is the intense and passionate utterance 
of the poet's nature, it will be an absorbing 
interest in the deep things of the human 
heart. In addition to this use of his own 
inner experience, the poet does, of course, use 
the realities of the external world as a basis 
for the ideal forms by which that inner ex- 
perience is to be symbolized. We have seen 
that these ideal forms are almost infinite in 
variety; and so, likewise, are the realities 
upon which they are based. We can only 
determine in each case what realities the 
poet has there used, and observe how these 
realities are related to the imaginative ex- 
pression of the thought and emotion. 

Emotion 

Lyric poetry is as free in its possible 
range of feeling as in its possible range of 
subjects. Some of the emotions most fre- 
quently expressed are love, grief, devotion, 
patriotism, valour, enthusiasm, aspiration, hope, 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 123 

disappointment. The great bulk of lyric 
poetry is, in one aspect or another, the poetry 
of love. In general, the greater poem is pro- 
duced by the emotion that is more nearly 
universal and more thoroughly human. The 
value of the artistic result, however, is deter- 
mined not alone by the character of the emo- 
tion, but also by its intensity, by its depth, 
by the beauty and vividness of its poetical 
expression. 

The dominant emotion is usually evident ; 
for emotion is so prominent in the lyric that 
its chief manifestation can seldom be obscure 
or concealed. Sometimes, however, the rarity 
or subtlety of an emotion makes it elusive ; 
and occasionally, the complicated relation 
between several emotions makes it hard to 
decide which is predominant. A considera- 
tion of the final impression left by the whole 
poem will usually solve any difficulty. Occa- 
sionally, we shall need our best insight and 
keenest discrimination. Subordinate emotions 
are for the jnost part easily observed. The 
study of the relations existing between emo- 
tions may sometimes be more difficult : it 



124 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

will enable us better to appreciate the poem, 
not only as a work of art, but also as the 
poet's utterance concerning the relations that 
exist between the great forces of human life. 

The study of the causes and effects of emo- 
tion in a lyric poem presents a somewhat 
peculiar problem. In epic or drama, these 
causes and effects appear within the work it- 
self. In the lyric, the case is different. If 
we look for causes, we are led directly back 
to the life and character of the author; for 
it is thence that the emotions directly arise. 
If we look for effects, again we are led out- 
side of the poem, and into the heart of the 
reader; for it is there that the emotion of the 
poem reaches its immediate goal. 

We are often called upon to consider 
whether the objects dealt with by the poet 
have been portrayed according to their own 
nature or have been distorted by the poet's 
fancy under the influence of strong emotion. 
Ruskin, discarding the terms objective and 
subjective in this relation, denotes this altera- 
tion of reality by the term pathetic fallacy. 
This indicates more clearly its true nature. 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 125 

Where this fallacy exists, it is usually a sign 
of weakness in the poet, in that he cannot 
keep his emotion from distorting his vision. 
When it is used to indicate a morbid state 
of feeling in some person outside of the poet, 
it serves a truly artistic purpose ; for it then 
has a dramatic effect in the portrayal of 
character. 

Thought 

Though the lyric is preeminently concerned 
with the expression of emotion, this does not 
preclude the fact that it is also the expres- 
sion of thought. The thought itself may be 
comparatively unimportant; but it determines 
the emotion and furnishes its occasion. The 
thought of a lyric is usually to be determined 
more easily than that of an epic. In the first 
place, it is more definite and more clearly ex- 
pressed. Then, it is less likely to be hidden 
by the concrete picture. The epic poet must 
express his thought in terms of action. The 
lyric poet may express himself in precise terms 
or under the thin veil of an easily under- 
stood symbol. 



126 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The central thought is usually on the sur- 
face or not far to seek. Where it presents 
any special difficulty, we must turn from any 
individual thoughts, however striking, to con- 
sider the general effect of the whole poem. 
Where the thought is definitely expressed, it 
will most often appear at the beginning; and 
where it is suggested through an image or 
symbol, it is more likely to reveal itself at 
the close. The various phases or aspects of the 
central thought will usually appear from a con- 
sideration of the poem as a whole ; but some- 
times they may be taken up successively, and 
will thus correspond practically with the succes- 
sive steps in the development of the thought. 

The study of this development will help 
us to understand the thought of the poem 
in detail. Usually, the thought of a lyric 
is comparatively simple, both in its nature 
and in its treatment ; and in such a case, it 
would be useless to make anything more than 
the most simple analysis. The analysis should 
be made, not for its own sake, but for the 
purpose of understanding the poem. Occa- 
sionally, however, analysis is difficult ; and it 



THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 127 

may sometimes be necessary to consider al- 
most every line and sentence in order to be 
sure of the poet's meaning. In studying the 
development of the thought, the mechanical 
divisions of the poem are often serviceable 
guides, though not to be implicitly relied on. 
The stanzas, for instance, may mark the sev- 
eral stages of the thought ; but this is by 
no means invariable, and we must often make 
our division by groups rather than by single 
stanzas. In the ode, the stanzas will be better 
guides to the thought than in the song : as a 
matter of fact, they are determined largely by 
the natural divisions of the thought. In both 
song and ode, single stanzas may indicate 
smaller divisions, and groups of stanzas may 
indicate larger divisions. This is particularly 
noteworthy in the Pindaric ode. The typical 
sonnet presents the development of the thought 
in the first eight lines and the conclusion in 
the last six ; but many sonnets modify this 
theoretical treatment. Wherever the lyric 
structure fails to indicate the outline of the 
thought, we must of course depend upon our 
own judgment and discrimination. 



128 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF LYRIC POETRY 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structure. 

1. Structure of song, ode, sonnet, etc. 

2. Stanzas and stanza-groups. 

B. — Metre. 1 
C — Style* 

II. — The Study of the Substance. 

A. — Beauty. 

1. Beauty in the ideal pictures of the work. 

2. Beauty in the minor details of substance. 

3. The kind of beauty. 1 

4. The unbeautiful element. 2 

B. — Ideality. 

1. The main ideal symbol or conception. 

2. Minor ideal conceptions. 

3. Relation of the various conceptions. 

4. The real element. 

(a) Thought and emotion. 

(b) External realities. 

C. — Emotion. 

1-4.1 

5. Existence or non-existence of pathetic fal- 

lacy. 

D. _ Thought. 1 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Study of the Drama 

The nature of the drama would seem to 
define for us at once the character of its sub- 
ject-matter. As regards the main subject, 
this is substantially true ; for the dramatist 
must always deal principally with humanity. 
We shall need, however, to discriminate 
whether a particular drama deals chiefly with 
man or with human life : it must deal more 
or less with both ; but one or the other will 
predominate. Probably our decision will 
usually be in favour of the latter, since the 
typical drama represents man in action. We 
might suppose that the drama could not deal 
with the other great subjects of literature ; 
but this would be far from the fact. The 
drama may ( involve the relation of humanity 
to some one or more of the other subjects ; and 
so those subjects become, indirectly and subor- 
k 129 



130 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

dinately, themes for treatment. We are often 
thus shown the relation of man to God and 
the spiritual world ; and even nature and 
art may become, upon occasion, the subjects 
of discussion. The drama holds most firmly 
to the human centre ; but like man, it looks 
out upon the universe and reflects upon all 
that is. 

The essential purpose of the drama is to 
present an ideal, objective portrayal of hu- 
man life and character. In doing this, it 
combines a certain group of characters with 
a certain plot or series of events. The char- 
acters reveal themselves and evolve the plot 
through dialogue and action. Drama insists 
strongly upon the principle of unity : for it 
is the most complex of literary forms deal- 
ing with the most complex of subjects; and 
looseness would be chaos. It insists that the 
action shall be complete and self-explanatory : 
this requirement arises from the fact that 
everything is to be set before the eyes of an 
audience, and that no opportunity is offered 
for supplementing or interpreting the action 
by anything outside of itself. It also tends 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 131 

to insist upon probability : this is entirely 
natural since the drama is representing hu- 
man life ; but in practice, the principle is 
not infrequently ignored. 

Drama is commonly divided first into ancient 
and modern. The division is not alone his- 
torical, but involves marked differences in 
form and spirit. Ancient drama is in the 
form of an almost continuous dialogue, divided 
into parts by choruses. It restricted its 
movement by the three unities of time, place, 
and action. It tended to represent man as 
the victim of a relentless and inevitable fate. 
The modern drama is more formally divided 
into acts and scenes. It commonly observes 
only the unity of action or subject. Its fun- 
damental view of life seems to be that char- 
acter determines destiny — that man's fate is 
the outcome of his own nature under the 
given conditions. Modern drama is divided 
into classical and romantic. The former is 
largely influenced by the laws and procedures 
of the ancient drama. The latter is much 
freer, both in method and in choice of sub- 
ject. Historical forms of the modern drama, 



132 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

of minor importance, are Mystery, Miracle Play, 
Morality, Interlude, Masque, Farce. These 
disclose the religious origin of dramatic rep- 
resentation, and illustrate the various stages 
in the development of the drama. 

A significant division of drama is into 
Tragedy, Comedy, and Reconciling-Drama. 
Tragedy presents the characters as working 
toward some inevitable ruin or catastrophe. 
Its effect is, according to the principle of 
Aristotle, to purify the soul through pity 
and terror. Comedy presents a cheerful or 
humorous view of life. Virtue is rewarded, 
vice is foiled, " poetic justice " is meted out. 
As a rule, the subject is familiar and the 
action probable. Tragedy tends to the use 
of verse ; comedy, though in a less degree, 
to the use of prose. The reconciling-drama 
mingles the tragic and the comic. It has 
the happy ending of comedy ; but tragedy 
struggles throughout for the mastery, and it 
is not until the close of the action that the 
happy ending is assured. The drama reaches 
its object in a reconciling of the tragic and 
the comic into harmonious consistency. 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 133 

THE STUDY OF FOKM 

Structure 

The structure of drama is of course pecul- 
iar. The typical modern drama is divided 
into a certain number of acts — usually five. 
These are divided into scenes, determined by 
change of location or by the entrance or exit 
of characters. In the ancient drama and in 
the minor forms of the modern drama, this 
division into acts and scenes is wanting, 
though we often have divisions that are 
practically equivalent to these. The unit of 
dramatic structure is the single speech in 
dialogue ; and probably dialogue is the only 
element of structure common to all drama. 
The speeches fall into various dialogue 
groups, determined by entrance or exit of 
characters : there may be one or more of 
these groups in a scene. The introduction 
of a lyric element and the alternation of 
prose and verse are important facts of struc- 
ture in many dramas. As a rule, the drama 
is more definite and regular in structure than 
any other kind of literature. 



134 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 



Met 



re 



Metre in the drama is somewhat more 
varied than in the epic, but much less so 
than in the lyric. Few kinds of metre are 
used ; but there is considerable freedom and 
variety in the mode of handling. The com- 
mon measure in English drama is the un- 
rhymed iambic pentameter. Heroic couplet 
has been used by some dramatists, but not 
with distinguished success. Where a lyric 
element appears, as in choruses or songs, 
there is greater variety of metre and freer 
use of rhyme. In most dramas, end-rhyme 
is not frequent ; but there are likely to be 
many examples of alliteration and assonance. 

Style 

Dramatic style has two important pecu- 
liarities. In the first place, it is objective : it 
represents, not the author, but his imaginary 
personages. The practical question is how 
far the style is adapted to the various char- 
acters. The second peculiarity is that the 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 135 

style may alternate between prose and verse. 
In good dramatic work, this change is no 
matter of accident. It is determined by the 
character, the mood, the circumstances, the 
subject, or some other sufficient cause. 

The intellectual qualities of style are not 
marked. Style is usually correct, and often 
clear ; but it can hardly, as a rule, be called 
simple. Not seldom, it will be decidedly ab- 
struse ; and sometimes, even obscure. Of 
course, all this depends upon the author, the 
subject, and the particular circumstances. 
Nevertheless, it will be justified by the drama 
as a whole. The reasons for this state of 
affairs are too many and too obscure for 
present discussion. 

The play of emotion in a drama is gener- 
ally both varied and intense ; and the style 
which conveys this emotion must necessarily 
be remarkable for emotional qualities. It will 
display all kinds of strength, all shades of 
pathos, all varieties of the ludicrous. Even 
in a single drama, the range is likely to be 
very wide. 

We might say of the drama, as of the epic, 



136 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

that it has no absolute need to make large use 
of the imaginative qualities of style. + The 
style of many dramas is comparatively plain and 
unpicturesque. On the other hand, however, 
there are dramas which display all the glories 
of imaginative speech. This difference de- 
pends mainly upon the dramatist, the char- 
acters, the circumstances, the prose or verse 
form. No style is more concrete than that 
of a highly imaginative drama ; and probably 
the style of the lyric alone surpasses it in 
suggestiveness. 

The aesthetic qualities of stjde depend upon 
much the same conditions. If the dramatist 
is also a poet, these qualities will be marked 
wherever characters and circumstances give 
occasion for beautiful language. If the dram- 
atist or the subject is lacking in poetic capa- 
bilities, there will be a corresponding lack of 
beauty in style. The range of variety is 
in proportion to the almost infinite variety 
of dramatic representation. Melody is least 
marked, though many passages are exquisitely 
melodious. Style will find full play for har- 
mony in adapting itself to a thousand changing 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 137 

conditions. Nowhere is there better oppor- 
tunity for the manifestation of propriety^ 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTAXCE 

Beauty 

In the drama, Ave may be tempted to wonder 
whether the prime purpose is not ideal truth 
rather than ideal beauty. Ideal truth is un- 
doubtedly one great purpose of the drama ; and 
so far as drama fails to attain this end, it fails 
in true dramatic quality. As a work of art, 
however, the drama seeks the ultimate object 
of ideal beaut}- through the more immediate 
object of ideal truth. So far as it attains ideal 
truth of life and character, it is truly dramatic ; 
so far as the ideally true is also ideally beauti- 
ful, it is truly artistic. 

We may naturally expect to find beauty 
first in the portrayal of humanity. Who can 
doubt that we should find beauty of character, 
whether in body, mind, or soul ? Similarly, 
we may Iqok for the beautiful in the general 
representation of life. On the whole, beauty 
predominates in life, and should predominate 



138 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

in any artistic portrayal of life. The form 
of this beauty will vary with the individual 
work. In comedy, it shows itself as " poetic 
justice," or the triumph of good over evil. 
In tragedy, it may appear as a sublime endur- 
ance of inevitable fate, as a grand manifesta- 
tion of courage or magnanimity, as an affecting 
picture of deep tenderness and pathos, as a 
victory of the best instincts of the soul over 
defeat and death. There is a beauty in the 
humour of pure comedy that exhilarates and 
delights the mind ; there is a beauty in the very 
terror of tragedy that purifies and sublimes 
the soul. 

The drama involves action as well as charac- 
ters ; and we may also look for beauty there. 
As in the epic, it may be found in the general 
effect of the plot, and also in the separate 
events or groups of events that go to make up 
the story. In every great drama, too, insight 
and aesthetic appreciation will not fail to dis- 
cover a thousand beauties of detail. Minor 
conceptions, pictures, images, illustrations, will 
constantly be flashing their beauty upon us. 

Within its proper sphere of human life, the 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 139 

drama has the fullest manifestation of beauty 
in all kinds. Beauty physical is always before 
our eyes in the men and women that crowd 
the scene. Beauty intellectual exalts the 
manhood and womanhood of all the great 
characters. Beauty spiritual is ever revealing 
itself in deeds of love and devotion, of courage 
and honour. 

There will almost invariably be a decided 
manifestation of the unbeautiful ; for drama 
deals largely in those powerful contrasts which 
are so necessary to a true and vivid picture 
of life. This unbeautiful element will appear 
in characters, deeds, relations, motives, situa- 
tions, events. Where it has been used artis- 
tically to exalt the beautiful or to reveal more 
fully the essential truth of life, it can only 
enhance the greatness of the drama. 

Ideality 

The ideal element in the drama consists 
of the representation of a certain section of 
human life. This representation has three 
principal features : the general picture of life ; 



140 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the individual characters ; the plot, by means of 
which life and character are revealed through 
action. A careful reading of the drama will 
enable us to grasp the leading outlines and 
the general effect of the representation. This 
will give us the author's main ideal conception, 
and will prepare us better for the study of the 
various features in detail. 

If the drama is chiefly concerned with hu- 
manity, it is natural and appropriate that 
closer study should begin with the human 
element. We may consider first the dramatic 
picture of life. Here we must begin by in- 
quiring just what section of life the dramatist 
has undertaken to portray. Each individual 
drama must look upon life from some partic- 
ular point of view ; and it can portray only 
what falls within its limited horizon. It is 
desirable to define, so far as possible, this 
point of view and the section of life deter- 
mined by it. Beyond this, the study of the 
picture of life is a study of the characters in 
their various relations. This will lead to the 
practical problem of character-grouping ; for 
it is through the various natural groups that 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 141 

we are best able to appreciate the relations of 
characters to each other and to the whole. 
Some of the leading relations which determine 
the formation of such groups are those of 
similarity or contrast, agreement or disagree- 
ment, contiguity or remoteness, comparative 
dramatic rank. We must determine in each 
drama what the natural groups are and upon 
what principles of grouping they depend. 

In the study of individual character, there 
are two main objects of consideration : char- 
acter-portrayal and character-development . 
We need to ask first what kind of man or 
woman the dramatist has portrayed. In some 
dramas, and with some characters in every 
drama, the work of characterization ends 
with portrayal. The greatest and most im- 
portant characters, however, undergo trans- 
formation and development as a result of 
their experiences. Personality, of course, 
persists; but it is greatly modified. The 
character is usually portrayed in the first 
act. Throughout the rest of the drama, we 
may observe the successive stages of change. 
The means and method of study will be sub- 



142 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

stantially the same whether we are consider- 
ing portrayal or development. 

The evidence to be considered is similar to 
that which appeals to ns in actual life, except 
that the dramatist tends to pass over what 
is merely accidental and to present only what 
is significant and typical. In the first place, 
we have the words that the character speaks, 
the acts that he performs, the relations that 
he sustains. Then we have the opinions of 
the other dramatic personages, as manifested 
by their words and their attitude. As a rule, 
all our evidence must come in these two ways. 
It is not impossible for the author to tell us 
directly what he intended ; but this is felt 
to be an intrusion, and we are usually left 
to consider the evidence for ourselves. This 
evidence, we must interpret substantially as 
in real life : we must consider all the evi- 
dence offered, must balance fact with fact, 
must take into account the attendant circum- 
stances, must have regard to the character 
of the witness, must view the part in the 
light of the whole. It is to be borne in 
mind that the drama itself is our only au- 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 143 

thority. We must not read into the author's 
work our own notions or even our knowledge 
of historical facts. Finally, we must beware 
of relying on a merely intellectual interpreta- 
tion. Imagination, insight, sympathy, are the 
chief secrets of a true appreciation. 

Our practical study should begin with a 
general conception of the character, but one 
that is subject to modification or change. 
Then we must begin at the opening of the 
drama, and consider the details in the order 
in which they are presented by the author. 
Step by step, we must trace the portrayal 
and development of the character until the 
last deed is performed and the last word 
spoken. Not even then do we fully under- 
stand the character ; for analysis enables us 
to comprehend only fragments and elements. 
As we began with a general conception, so 
we need to end. This must result from the 
effort of the imagination to conceive and real- 
ize the character as a living whole. 

The study of plot in the drama involves 
substantially the same principles and problems 
as in epic poetry. It will be sufficient here, 



144 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

therefore, to give a mere outline of the criti- 
cism of plot, and to note the peculiarities of 
dramatic narrative. First, we may state the 
result of the plot, bearing in mind that this 
statement should be brief, comprehensive, and 
concrete. Then we may trace the develop- 
ment of the plot, noting the several stages 
of development, the various threads of inter- 
est, the effective means by which the move- 
ment of the plot is determined. The drama 
follows in the main a chronological order, 
and thus presents little difficulty as regards 
the succession of events. Moreover, the di- 
vision into acts and scenes is of decided ad- 
vantage in helping us to note the larger and 
smaller divisions of the plot. By observing 
the relation of events to the scene, of the 
scenes to the act, and of the acts to the whole 
drama, we shall easily trace the progress of the 
action. Theoretically, Act I gives the intro- 
duction or exposition ; Act II furnishes events 
that complicate the plot ; Act III shows the full 
complication of the action ; Act IV furnishes 
the means for unraveling the complication; and 
Act V presents the solution or culmination. 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 145 

The matter of interwoven plots, as we 
have seen, does not in theory present any 
special difficulties. We may first consider 
each plot by itself, and maj^ then consider 
the result of the combined plots, the devel- 
opment and means of the interweaving proc- 
ess, and the relation of the individual plots 
to each other. The chief means by which 
dramatic plots are interwoven will be found 
in the purposes and relations of the various 
characters. Here, again, we touch the ques- 
tion of character-grouping : it is both interest- 
ing and significant to observe the transference 
of characters from group to group and from 
plot to plot as the drama proceeds. A sub- 
ordinate means of interweaving is found in 
certain events that have an influence upon 
both plots. 

The supernatural not infrequently holds a 
subordinate place in the drama. Sometimes 
this is presented frankly as something be- 
lieved in by the dramatist and his age ; and 
sometimes it is simply the ideal embodiment 
of human motives. Sometimes the supernat- 
ural beings have objective reality ; and some- 



146 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

times they are the product of morbid imagi- 
nation in some character. We must consider 
the attributes of these supernatural beings, 
the motives or mental states which they rep- 
resent, their relation to the characters and 
to the action. 

The study of the ideal element leads us 
naturally to a study of the real element. As 
elsewhere, thought and emotion are real ; but 
in drama they are extremely idealized by 
being made a part of some imaginary charac- 
ter. There is also a real element underlying 
the characters and the plot. Sometimes this 
lies merely in the author's general knowledge 
of human nature : in this case, we have to 
consider only the relation of the drama to 
real life. Sometimes, however, the author 
deals with characters and events which are 
historical, or which have been created by some 
imagination other than his own. Historical 
material and imaginative material stand in 
substantially the same relation to the work 
of the dramatist ; for in both cases, his imagi- 
nation has appropriated and idealized what it- 
did not originally create. 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 147 

Local setting, historical setting, and the 
sources of the plot are especially significant 
in the study of drama. Where the dramatist 
has made real scenes the background for his 
representation of humanity, the drama and 
the local setting reflect interest upon each 
other. The historical setting is even more 
important ; for we can hardly dispense with 
a knowledge of historical facts upon which a 
drama is based, with which it is directly con- 
nected, or by which it is interpreted and 
illustrated. The drama, more frequently than 
other literature, draws its plot from external 
sources ; and by comparison between the two, 
we are enabled to see what the imagination 
of the dramatist has accomplished in trans- 
forming a simple tale or a rude legend into 
a great masterpiece. 

Emotion 

The range of emotions in the drama is 
almost unlimited. The stronger and more 
elemental passions are most common ; but the 
finer and subtler emotions are by no means 



148 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

rare. We shall of course need to seek first 
the dominant emotion or emotions, noting 
their harmony or conflict with each other. 
A consideration of the chief characters will 
usually afford us a clue to the principal emo- 
tions. Minor emotions will display them- 
selves in the various characters and situations 
throughout the drama. They are likely to 
be many, and to show great variety in kind 
and in degree of intensity, as well as in 
manner of expression. The relations between 
the various emotions is a matter of much 
importance : for emotion is a vital part of 
character ; and relations between characters 
determine the picture of life. These relations 
are usually simple ; but often the complexity 
of feelings calls for our best insight and 
knowledge of human nature. No less impor- 
tant is the study of the causes and effects of 
emotion ; for Ave are here given an insight 
into the motives and results of human con- 
duct as manifested in feeling. Emotion will 
usually be objective. Sometimes, however, 
the dramatist obtrudes himself into his work ; 
and the subjective element thus introduced 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 149 

must be observed if we are rightly to under- 
stand and to estimate the work. 



Thought 

The determination of the thought in drama 
is more difficult than in any other form of 
literature. This is natural, for many reasons. 
In the first place, the drama is the most com- 
plex and intricate form of literary art. Then, 
the extreme objectivity of drama makes it 
difficult to get through the artist's creations 
to the artist's mind. Not least in importance 
is the fact that the drama is the most con- 
crete of literary forms, and therefore the 
hardest to reduce to the abstract. 

We shall gain the best clue to the central 
thought by considering the chief characters 
and their relations, the general effect of the 
picture of life, and the resultant effect of the 
plot. The validity of our judgment should 
be tested also by the details of the drama. 
The different aspects of the main thought 
are likely to be suggested by the several 
groups of characters, and by the separate in- 



150 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

terwoven plots or the marked divisions of a 
single plot. 

The development of the thought, like the 
development of the plot, will usually have 
its various stages marked by the scenes and 
acts. These, therefore, will be practical helps 
to our study. We have pointed out that the 
drama especially emphasizes the principle of 
unity ; and this implies that it holds firmly 
to its central thought. Nevertheless, it will 
be found that the drama presents many minor 
thoughts of individual interest and signifi- 
cance. Where this is the case, or where in- 
dividual thoughts involve any special difficulty 
of interpretation, they should receive particu- 
lar consideration. The gems of thought — 
beautiful, witty, wise, profound — which have 
been collected from our great dramatists will 
suggest the richness of the drama in this re- 
spect. 



THE STUDY OF THE DRAMA 151 

OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF DRAMA 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structure. 

1. Acts and scenes. 

2. Dialogue and dialogue groups. 

3. Lyric element and alternation of prose and 

verse. 

B. — Metre. 1 
C — Style. 

1. Adaptation of the style to the characters. 

2. Alternation of prose and verse. 

3. Qualities manifested. 1 

4. Relative importance of these qualities. 
II. — The Study of the Substance. 

A. — Beauty. 

1. Beauty in the characters. 2 

2. Beauty in the representation of human life. 

3. Beauty in the plot. 2 

4. The kind of beauty. 1 

5. The unbeautiful element. 2 

B. — Ideality. 

1. General notion of the main ideal concep- 

tion. 

2. The human element. 

(a) The dramatic picture of life. 

(1) The particular section of life por- 

trayed. 

(2) Character relations — as shown by 

ch ar acter-groupin g. 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 



152 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

(b) The individual characters. 

(1) Character portrayal. 

(2) Character development. 

3. The plot. 2 

4. The supernatural element. 

(a) Attributes of the supernatural beings. 
(6) Motives or mental states which they 
represent. 

(c) Their relation to characters and action. 

5. The real element. 2 

C. — Emotion. 1 

D. — Thought. 1 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Study of Prose Romance 

With the romance, we pass from poetry 
to prose, from the higher class of literature 
to the lower. This difference in form implies 
many differences in subject, in spirit, and in 
method. The romance is not likely to con- 
cern itself with the great problems of exist- 
ence or with profound and far-reaching 
truths. It deals principally with human life 
— not, to be sure, in its common relations, 
but at least in those which are comparatively 
superficial and traditional. It seldom deals 
with man as such or gives any deep insight into 
the human soul. God and the spiritual world 
are sometimes subjects of consideration ; but 
here again, the matter presented is likely to 
be commonplace. Very little treatment of 
nature will be found, and that mainly con- 
ventional. Art is almost never a subject. 

153 



154 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The great allegorical romances will offer many 
exceptions to these general propositions. 

The romance is the prose counterpart of 
the epic : it is primarily a narrative in prose. 
It differs from all dramatic literature in that 
characters exist for the sake of events. 
These characters may not be human at all. 
Not infrequently, they are supernatural beings, 
animals, or even plants and inanimate objects 
personified. As a rule, the romance has even 
less of real human interest than the epic, 
and less of dramatic quality in situations and 
in action. It is usually objective, although 
the freedom of prose offers somewhat more 
of opportunity for the obtrusion of the au- 
thor's personality. Probably more than any 
other form of literature, it emphasizes the 
liberties rather than the limitations of imag- 
ination. 

Romances are of different kinds, but there 
are no well-defined and commonly recognized 
classes. The only significant principle of divi- 
sion lies in the fact that the romance seems 
to deal with its subject in three principal 
ways, thus producing three more or less dis- 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 155 

tinct varieties. In the first place, it may be 
frankly romantic in its exercise of imagina- 
tion, and may present to us in an ingenuous 
manner events and characters that are beyond 
the range of any rational belief. The author 
may have a childish faith in the marvels that 
he relates, or he may be consciously and pro- 
fessedly telling an improbable and fanciful 
tale for the entertainment of his readers. In 
the second place, the author may relate things 
just as improbable as those supposed above, 
but may do it in such a way as to give to 
the whole a deceptive air of verisimilitude. 
In the third place, the author may present 
events and characters which are frankly im- 
aginary, but which are used allegorically to 
represent certain real human types and ex- 
periences. Here may be included the fable, 
which is also in its way allegorical. 

THE STUDY OF FOE^I 

Structure 

The structure of the romance is perhaps 
somewhat more regular than that of the epic, 



156 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

though it is by no means absolutely fixed. 
The common division is into books and chap- 
ters ; and to this division, or its equivalent, 
most romances will be found to conform. 
Sometimes the divisions are given other 
names, as for instance, " parts" and "stages." 
Division into paragraphs is of course a fea- 
ture of the romance ; but these are not usu- 
ally very significant. Good paragraphing is 
one of the latest achievements of literary 
prose, and is hardly to be looked for in 
those earlier periods when the romance be- 
gins to flourish. 

Style 

The intellectual qualities of style in the 
romance are not particularly marked, although 
some later romances are models in this re- 
spect. The narrative character of the romance 
would naturally favour clearness and simplicity 
of style ; but its development in periods when 
prose style was comparatively unformed would 
unite with the remote and fanciful nature of 
its subjects to create a tendency in the op- 
posite direction. On the whole, we may say 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 157 

that the romance in its highest and best 
forms has that advantage over poetry which 
comes from its use of the more intellectual 
and more commonplace medium of expression. 

We have observed that the emotional qual- 
ities are not very prominent in the epic. 
The same causes would make this true also 
of the romance, while the prose form would 
make the style of the romance even less 
noteworthy for its indications of emotional 
power. The chief emotional quality is likely 
to be strength ; and this will probably appear 
in its more ordinary rather than in its rarer 
and loftier forms. Pathos and the ludicrous 
are not likely to manifest themselves fre- 
quently or in a striking manner. 

The romance is of course inferior to poetry 
in the imaginative qualities of style. It is 
probably, on the whole, superior to other nar- 
rative prose. We have observed that its early 
origin and its fanciful nature tend to make 
its style less intellectual ; but those very facts 
must tend ' to make style more imaginative. 
As a rule, it will be chiefly notable for the 
quality of concreteness ; for suggestiveness is 



158 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

naturally the product of more subtle and re- 
fined genius — the attribute of poetry rather 
than of prose. 

We must also expect to find the romance 
inferior to poetry in the aesthetic qualities of 
style ; for it is here that verse shows its most 
decided advantages as a medium of literary 
expression. Probably the style of the ro- 
mance is superior in beauty to that of the 
novel, and for much the same reasons as 
those just noted in the case of the imagina- 
tive qualities. This superiority, however, is 
not altogether so certain or so marked. 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 

Beauty is to be expected in the substance 
of romance, since the romance is usually writ- 
ten professedly for the pleasure and delight 
of the reader. Such beauty as there is will 
commonly lie upon the surface. It may be 
more fanciful and less exalted than the beauty 
of poetry ; but it is worthy to be considered 
and to be appreciated at its own worth. 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 159 

We may look for beauty first in the plot. 
We may expect to find it in the general 
effect of the narrative and in the outcome 
of the whole series of occurrences ; in the 
separate events and groups of events ; in the 
deeds and experiences of the several per- 
sonages. We may also look for it in the 
characters themselves — in their external ap- 
pearance, in their actions and relations, in 
their thoughts, feelings, moods, and dispo- 
sitions. 

We have intimated that the beauty of the 
romance is not in general so lofty or so seri- 
ous as that of poetry. This does not, how- 
ever, imply that we may not discover beauty 
of all kinds and degrees. Physical beauty 
is very common ; for romance delights to pic- 
ture scenes, situations, events, and personages 
of the greatest physical loveliness. Intellec- 
tual beauty is less common; for romance is 
less likely to deal with exalted and beautiful 
thoughts. Spiritual beauty may manifest it- 
self to a considerable degree in noble moods 
and motives, in high courage and devotion, 
in lofty ideals and aspirations. The romance, 



160 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

therefore, is not unworthy of its true place 
in literature. 

The unbeautiful element is comparatively 
small ; for romance does not deal so largely 
in those striking contrasts which are so 
effective in epic and drama. The romancer 
is not so great an artist as the poet, and may 
fear to deal with forces that may destroy 
rather than exalt his work. Where the ugly 
or the horrible appear, it is commonly in the 
form of some villain, tyrant, or monster who 
is to be overthrown by valour in the interests 
of beauty or renown. Its force and effect 
are readily apparent. 

Ideality 

The ideal element in the romance consists 
primarily of a narrative plot. Our previous 
study of plot in epic and drama will preclude 
the necessity here of anything but the merest 
outline. The plot of the romance is substan- 
tially similar to that of the epic ; and both 
are presented by the method of direct narra- 
tion. We have seen that a plot consists of 
two elements, the events and the actors, and 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 161 

that its purpose is the working out of some 
particular result. 

In studying the plot, we may begin with a 
concrete statement of its result. This, to- 
gether with the essential features of the plot, 
will give us the main ideal conception. Our 
further study will bring out the various parts 
and phases of this main conception, and will 
show us the minor ideal conceptions of the 
work. After noting the result, we may turn 
our attention to the development of the plot, 
noting the stages of its progress, the different 
threads of interest, and the effective means 
of the development. Here we may follow 
the indications of the outward structure. 
Sometimes there may be two or more distinct 
stages within a chapter ; and sometimes two 
or more chapters may unite to form one dis- 
tinct stage. More commonly, however, each 
chapter has a significance of its own in mark- 
ing the progress of the narrative. The books 
will usually correspond accurately with the 
larger divisions of the plot. Sometimes a 
book may include several large divisions 
marked by groups of chapters. 

M 



162 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

We may pass from this general study of 
the plot to the observation of the details of 
the narrative art. What this involves we 
have already pointed out in our consideration 
of epic plot. The separate events in the 
romance are often interesting and suggestive, 
although they may not be profoundly signifi- 
cant. The romance follows the simple chron- 
ological order perhaps more frequently than 
the epic. The great arts by which narrative 
is made vivid and effective are not so fully 
displayed, because the artist is generally in- 
ferior in genius. Episodes are on the whole 
less common, although many instances occur. 
Description is freely used, as in all narra- 
tive ; but it is not likely to be so lofty and 
impressive. 

The problem of interwoven plots is not so 
frequent as in either epic or drama. The 
romancer often has several different stories to 
deal with ; but he is likely to tell each by 
itself rather than to weave them into a vital 
unity. In the older romances, this is partic- 
ularly true ; and a typical case is where a 
single hero, or different heroes of the same 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 163 

company or class, may be represented as 
meeting with several distinct series of adven- 
tures or experiences. We have a fair example 
in the various stories that are loosely associ- 
ated with each other through King Arthur 
and the Round Table. In any such case, 
we have simply a number of distinct narra- 
tives ; and we may study each separately 
and then observe by what bond they are 
associated. Where the problem of inter- 
woven plots is really involved, we may follow 
the method of study already described in the 
case of the epic. 

We need not often spend much time in the 
study of the characters for their own sake ; 
for the portrayal of lifelike human character 
in the romance is comparatively rare. In- 
deed, the romance preferably chooses such 
characters as mythical or legendary heroes, 
giants, dwarfs, fairies, monsters, angels, de- 
mons, animals, personified natural objects. 
When the work is allegorical, it will be 
worth while to consider the characters as to 
the symbolical meaning which they involve. 
Where characters demand attention because 



164 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

of their real human interest, or because they 
are significant representatives of the spiritual 
or the natural world, we may follow, though 
perhaps less minutely, the method already 
outlined for the study of characters in the 
drama. 

The highly imaginative character of ro- 
mance naturally implies its remoteness from 
the actual world. The real element is likely, 
therefore, to be comparatively small. Some- 
thing of reality must, however, exist ; and as 
the real element becomes smaller in a work, 
it is perhaps even more significant. There 
will be here, as elsewhere, a real element of 
thought and emotion. The plot and charac- 
ters may of course be largely borrowed, 
whether from historical, semi-historical, leg- 
endary, or earlier literary sources. Such real 
elements as these, and also such matters of 
detail as have a basis in reality, are to be 
carefully considered and compared with the 
imaginative result. The study of real local 
setting is less significant than in the drama, 
for it is not so necessary to our vivid concep- 
tion of the ideal picture that we should see 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMAXCE 165 

the characters in the midst of their actual 
surroundings. Such knowledge of localities, 
however, where possible, is not to be despised. 
The study of historical setting or of the 
sources of the plot is as important here as 
elsewhere ; or if any less important, it is be- 
cause the work itself is of less literary value, 
and therefore less worthy of exhaustive 
study. 

Emotion 

The romance usually deals with the more 
common and simple emotions ; and therefore 
its emotional element is comparatively easy of 
study. The emotions are much the same as 
in the epic ; but their portrayal is not usually 
so profound or so impressive. The romance 
is more likely to skim the surface of human 
passion. Its emotions are vivid, intense, in- 
teresting ; but they are less significant and 
vital. The dominant emotion will usually be 
apparent and easily apprehended : it will 
ordinarily be revealed in the person of the 
hero or heroine, or in the mutual relations of 
the chief personages. The subordinate emo- 



166 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

tions will not give us much more difficulty. 
They may have a variety of manifestations ; 
but they will usually be few and simple. We 
may look for them, of course, in the several 
characters of the narrative. It will naturally 
follow from what has been said that the 
relations between the various emotions will 
involve little complication, and that their 
causes and effects will readily appear. 

The emotion of the romance, as of epic 
and drama, should be objective; for the au- 
thor is endeavouring to represent the feelings 
of his imaginary beings. The greater free- 
dom of prose not only affords more oppor- 
tunity, but also offers greater temptation for 
the introduction of subjective feeling. The 
romance is, however, reasonably free from 
this subjective element. Its earlier develop- 
ment, as tending to free it from modern self- 
consciousness, would aid toward complete 
objectivity. Where the author does intrude, 
it is usually in a naive way suggestive of im- 
perfect art rather than of an impulse to 
make his own feeling prominent. 



THE STUDY OF PROSE ROMANCE 167 

Thought 

The thought of the romance is seldom pro- 
found, abstruse, complicated, or difficult. In 
spite of its comparative simplicity, however, 
the central thought is not always easy to dis- 
cover. This is due in the first place to the 
fact that the writer of romance is tempted to 
lose himself in a mere series of interesting 
but unrelated events, forgetting that a truly 
great work of art must be informed by some 
principle of vital unity that gives impressive- 
ness and power to the whole. In a word, it 
may be hard to find the author's central 
meaning because he comes so near to having 
none. His concrete pictures have a tendency 
to forego their real significance as symbols of 
something above and beyond themselves. Of 
later and more truly artistic romances, this is 
of course not true. Another element of diffi- 
culty lies in the fact that the romance, like the 
epic and the drama, is naturally concrete and 
objective. In general, however, the ideal pic- 
ture is so simple that its meaning is more read- 
ily apparent than in some other literary forms. 



168 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

The central thought is, of course, to be 
discovered by considering the final outcome 
and general impression of the plot, and also 
the experiences and relations of the leading 
characters. We need here to guard ourselves 
from dwelling upon impressive details and 
so missing the meaning of the whole. The 
different aspects of the central thought will 
usually be few, simple, and apparent. 

The development of the course of thought 
may be easily traced. The outward structure 
and the development of the plot will be 
suggestive in this connection. In some rare 
romances, our study of the details of the 
thought can hardly be too minute ; for we 
are dealing with ideas that are deeply signifi- 
cant. This is particularly true of some alle- 
gorical romances. There, the story exists 
primarily for the sake of the thought ; and 
that thought will usually be important. In 
most romances, however, the separate thoughts 
are neither important nor difficult ; and a 
comprehension of the main outlines of the 
thought will usually be sufficient for ordinary 
purposes. 



THE STUDY OF PROSE KOMAXCE 169 



OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF PROSE 
ROMANCE 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structure. 

1. Books, chapters, etc. 

2. Paragraphs. 

B. — Style* 

II. — The Study of the Substance. 
A. — Beauty. 2 
B.-_ Ideality* 

C. — Emotion. 1 
J).— Thought. 1 

i See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 



CHAPTER IX 

The Study of the Essay 

The essay, like the lyric, may deal with 
almost any subject of human thinking. It 
shows the natural tendency of all literature to 
seek the human centre ; but its interest is by 
no means confined to humanity. It probably 
deals most frequently with human life. The 
more serious forms of the essay, however, do 
not hesitate to deal with man ; and they some- 
times discuss the profoundest problems of the 
human soul. Essays dealing with God, the 
spiritual world, or nature are less frequent, 
though by no means rare. The subject of art 
is a common one, as may be seen from the 
great body of essays devoted to literary and 
art criticism. 

The things most characteristic of the essay 
are its subjectivity, its prose form, and its mix- 
ture of the artistic and the practical. Its sub- 

170 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 171 

jective character allies it with the lyric ; but 
it is less distinctly a revelation of the author's 
personality. Its differences from the lyric are 
determined largely by its prose form : the most 
significant of these is its emphasis upon thought 
rather than upon emotion. The essay is, more 
often than other literature, a mixed species of 
literary art: the freedom of prose has here the 
fullest play; and the predominance of thought 
naturally serves the practical purpose and leads 
to a more abstract form of expression. The 
essay is usually expository in character. Some- 
times it endeavours to convince and persuade. 
All of these purposes have a practical tendency: 
the author uses the methods of the teacher, the 
logician, and the orator in addition to those 
of the artist. 

Among the many varieties of essay, it is 
almost impossible to make any satisfactory 
classification. The number of kinds is too 
great ; and the grounds of distinction are too 
indefinite. Neither subject-matter nor form 
affords an adequate basis for division : for 
there are no well-defined or traditional classes 
of subjects ; and the essay has not developed 



172 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

any characteristic and distinctive forms. It 
may serve us in some measure to note two very 
general types. The earlier and more purely 
literary type may be called the familiar or per- 
sonal essay : it more nearly corresponds to the 
lyric as revealing the personal feeling and 
peculiarities of the author. The later type 
may be called the didactic essay : it deals more 
with thought, and aims to instruct ; its literary 
quality is more incidental. A species of the 
didactic essay deserving of special mention is 
literary and art criticism. By the very nature 
of the subject-matter, the author is there more 
apt to write in an artistic manner. 

THE STUDY OF FORM 

Structure 

The essay has not developed any well-recog- 
nized structural forms. In larger works, we 
may sometimes find the chapter divisions, as in 
the romance ; and these chapters may be 
grouped into larger divisions or "parts." 
These divisions, however, are by no means 
characteristic of the essay. The most that we 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 173 

shall probably find in the way of formal struc- 
ture will be the indication by number of certain 
divisions or sections. The paragraph is, of 
course, a common feature of the essay. As a 
rule, the paragraph is more carefully con- 
structed by the essayist than by other prose 
writers. In the absence of a more formal 
structure, he feels it necessary to make the 
most of this. The study of paragraph struc- 
ture is therefore most important here. 



chie 



Style 



The literary quality of the essay is often 
chiefly apparent in its outward form ; and 
this gives to the study of style in the essay 
peculiar significance and greater relative im- 
portance. It does not imply that the sub- 
stance is entirely unartistic ; but it does imply 
that the essayist is less able to depend upon 
substance for literary excellence, and is there- 
fore led to concentrate his artistic effort chiefly 
upon expression. Moreover, the genius for 
prose style is a gift more or less distinct ; and 
those who possess this gift rather than that 



174 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

of great artistic invention naturally turn 
toward the essay rather than toward poetry, 
romance, or novel. As a result, the essay, 
in its best examples, probably reaches the 
high- water mark of artistic prose style. 

There is probably no other form of litera- 
ture in which the intellectual qualities of 
style are so prominent and important. Else- 
where, some lack in this respect may be for- 
given in consideration of great emotions and 
great ideal conceptions — may even seem to 
be a necessary counterpart of greater force 
or vividness. We naturally expect, however, 
that the essay will be a model of correctness, 
clearness, and simplicity. If there is any 
lack in these particulars, it is usually due to 
the intense earnestness of the writer or to 
the profundity of his thought. With all 
possible limitations made, our great essayists 
may claim in an eminent degree the gift of 
clear and simple utterance. 

As to the emotional qualities, the essay is 
inferior to poetry; but it is not necessarily 
inferior to other prose, if we except the more 
dramatic and exciting passages of romance 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 175 

and novel. Emotional qualities are likely 
to be more marked in the personal essay and 
less apparent in the didactic. The essay is 
capable of all varieties of strength, although 
it is commonly more limited in range than 
other literature. Pathos is less frequent, 
though not uncommon in the personal essay. 
The ludicrous is very characteristic of many 
essayists, and appears in all varieties. 

The imaginative qualities of style are also 
noteworthy. The essayist, who has less of 
imagination in substance, exerts himself to 
give picturesqueness and music to his style 
by means of a concrete expression of his 
thought. Nor is the style of the essay lack- 
ing in suggestiveness. In all imaginative 
qualities, it is of course inferior to poetry ; 
but it is probably superior to most other kinds 
of prose. These qualities will of course vary 
with the kind of essay : the personal essay is 
likely to have a more imaginative style than 
the didactic. 

This same principle will hold also in regard 
to the aesthetic qualities, many personal essays 
being remarkable for beauty of style. In 



176 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

general, the essay is probably superior in 
this respect to other prose, though of course 
inferior to poetry. The style of the essay is 
likely to have a fine prose melody. It is also 
likely to be eminently harmonious and appro- 
priate ; for it is a flexible and plastic mode of 
expression which lends itself readily to all the 
modulations of thought and feeling. 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 

Beauty of substance may be less marked 
in the essay than in other kinds of literature ; 
but it must be present in some measure if we 
are to regard the work as being in any true 
sense literary. Lack of beauty in substance 
will deprive the essay of all artistic character ; 
for beauty of style is a practical impossibility 
without something of beauty in conception. 
We may freely allow that the primary interest 
of a work may be in the thought presented ; 
but if the writer does not reveal beauty in 
his conception of the thought, he is merely a 
thinker and by no means a literary artist. 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 177 

It is probable that, in most essays of high, 
literary excellence, there is a large element 
of real beauty in the thought and emotion 
involved. This will lead naturally to ideal 
beauty in the imaginative pictures which 
embody that thought and emotion. It is 
here, as in the lyric, that we must look for 
such beauty as the substance of the essay 
provides. It must be sought first in the 
principal pictures and conceptions, and after- 
wards in minor conceptions and in the smaller 
details of substance. 

The essay is capable of all kinds and degrees 
of beauty, from that which merely pleases 
the fancy to that which exalts and purifies 
the soul. As a rule, however, it will be 
found inferior to other kinds of literature, 
seeking beauty for the most part in the mean 
between the two extremes, and dealing sel- 
dom with beauty of a grand or sublime order. 
We may find often a fine physical beauty in 
figures and images. We may sometimes dis- 
cover beauty of the spiritual order in the 
feelings, moods, or aspirations of the writer. 
It is in intellectual beauty, however, that the 



178 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

essay is most likely to excel. Splendid and 
pleasing thoughts, finely expressed, give it 
for the most part its literary rank and quality. 
Beauty physical or spiritual may add to the 
work a more vivid charm or a loftier power 
of exaltation and delight. 

In most essays, the unbeautiful element is 
not large. Where such an element does ap- 
pear, it is likely to be simply an absence of 
beauty, a prosaic and negative plainness, 
rather than a positive manifestation of what 
is essentially ugly or repulsive. The essay 
deals in impressive contrasts even less than 
does the lyric ; and such contrasts as do ap- 
pear are likely to be in matters of detail, in 
an antithesis or limited comparison. Many 
of its contrasts are purely intellectual and do 
not involve the question of beauty. Artistic 
contrasts are not altogether wanting ; but 
they are the exception rather than the rule. 

Ideality 

The ideality of the essay, like that of the 
lyric, is almost infinite in the variety of its 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 179 

forms. It is simply the representation of 
thought and emotion through any imaginative 
symbols capable of expressing them. The 
nature of the symbol is not fixed as it is in 
the case of narrative and dramatic literature. 
Each writer must find the appropriate symbols 
for his own thought and feeling. As in lyric 
poetry, the symbol may sustain different re- 
lations to the thought and emotion. It may 
embody them, as in the case of most litera- 
ture ; it may reflect or illustrate them ; or 
it may suggest them. The business of the 
literary student is to determine in each case 
what the symbols are and how they are re- 
lated to the thought and emotion. In doing 
this for any particular work, he will have 
analyzed the ideal element, and will have 
stated its various conceptions. 

Where the principal thought and emotion 
are expressed through an ideal symbol, this 
symbol is the main ideal conception. In 
most essays, however, these are likely to be 
set forth abstractly, the ideal element being 
largely incidental. In such a case, we have 
simply to recognize that there is no main 



180 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

ideal conception, and content ourselves with 
the statement of the central thought and 
the leading emotion. We shall often find 
in minor conceptions much to engage our 
attention ; for the amount of imagination dis- 
played in a work will usually be in propor- 
tion to its real literary character. Minor 
conceptions will appear as pictures, images, 
illustrations, figures, etc., symbolizing minor 
thoughts and emotions. We may observe 
the relation of these to each other and to the 
whole. In the essay, perhaps more than else- 
where, we are liable to a confusion between 
these minor evidences of ideality in substance 
and the imaginative qualities of style. We 
are concerned here with the mental image 
and not with the language which expresses it. 
The real element in the essay is likely to 
be large, since the essay is often written with 
a practical purpose and deals with real 
things. This real element is to be found 
primarily in the writer's thought and feeling 
and in the subject under discussion. The 
real thought and feeling involved are not 
usually so intensely personal as in the lyric, 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 181 

but are more likely to have simply an in- 
tellectual and speculative interest. This is 
true because the essayist is not usually writ- 
ing under the influence of profound and in- 
tense emotion or seeking to reveal to us the 
secrets of his own soul. His interest in his 
work is somewhat more abstract and im- 
personal. Of course, a lyric intensity and 
freedom are not impossible, and are to be 
recognized where they exist. Wherever the 
author creates ideal images, there will also 
be a real basis for these. Such real elements 
of a more external kind are as various as 
the ideal forms of which they are the basis. 
We can only be guided by the work in hand, 
determining in each case the realities in- 
volved, and observing the relation of these 
to the ideal products that have been de- 
veloped from them. The essayist, like the 
lyric poet, may use freely the facts of nature 
or of human life to embody, to illustrate, or 
to suggest the thoughts and feelings that he 
wishes to express. The comparison between 
these realities and the ideal result is not likely 
to be difficult. 



182 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

Emotion 

Emotion is a less important element in the 
essay than in any other form of pure literature : 
the author is seldom concerned to utter his 
own feeling or to express the feeling of some 
imaginary being. This is doubtless one reason 
why the essay is less exalted in the realm of 
pure art. There are, of course, exceptions ; 
and some essays might be intensely passion- 
ate. In all essays of true literary value, 
emotion must exist in some degree ; for with- 
out it, imagination will not be aroused to 
real creative power. Emotions are so varied, 
in kind, in degree of intensity, and in man- 
ner of expression, that our only practical 
guide is the individual work. As a rule, the 
greater the emotional element involved, the 
greater the artistic value of the production. 

The dominant emotion, if there be any such, 
will usually be apparent and readily under- 
stood. It is only rarely that we shall meet 
with emotions so subtle or so complicated as 
to present any real difficulty. Subordinate 
emotions may then engage our attention, to- 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 183 

gether with the relation of these to each 
other and to the dominant emotion. No 
greater difficulty is likely to be presented 
here. The study of the causes and effects of 
emotion involves the same peculiarity as in 
the lyric. For the causes, we must go to 
the heart and life of the author ; and for the 
effects, we must go to the heart and life of the 
reader. Emotion will usually and naturally 
be subjective. ' We may sometimes, though 
not frequently, find it necessary to note the 
presence of pathetic fallacy. Wherever a 
dramatic representation of emotion exists, it 
is to be noted as objective. 

Thought 

In the essay, thought is likely to hold a 
very prominent place : it is relatively more 
important than in other kinds of literature. 
It is usually valuable for its own sake, inde- 
pendently of the imaginative forms through 
which it may be expressed. This is true 
because, in most essays, the thought furnishes 
the reason for the production, while the artis- 
tic form of expression is secondary and in a 



184 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

sense subordinate. The thought is compara- 
tively easy to discover ; and the concrete 
forms in which it is expressed do not usually 
present any difficulty in the way of its inter- 
pretation. Indeed, these concrete forms com- 
monly exist for the professed purpose of 
making the thought clearer and more em- 
phatic. Where any real difficulty is found, it 
is usually a difficulty inherent in the thought 
itself, because of its profundity, intricacy, or 
abstruseness. 

Our first business is, of course, to make a 
definite statement of the central thought. 
Very often, this thought is stated in the essay 
itself in abstract and precise terms or through 
concrete forms easily interpreted. Where 
this is not the case, we shall probably best 
reach our end by considering the general 
impression left upon our minds by the whole 
production. Sometimes various aspects or 
phases of this main thought are presented ; 
and occasionally these several aspects appear 
as successive steps in the development of the 
whole course of thought. 

We may next proceed to analyze the 



THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY 185 

thought. This study of the thought develop- 
ment is of much importance in the essay ; 
for it is here that we are led to see how the 
author has introduced his thought, in what 
manner he has treated it, and how he has 
brought his presentation of it to an effective 
conclusion. Separate thoughts will often call 
for special consideration on account of their 
importance or difficulty : the minuteness of 
our study will of course be determined by 
the value of the thought itself. In studying 
the progress of the thought, the structure 
will be even more serviceable than in other 
kinds of literature ; for in the essay, structure 
is mainly determined by the arrangement of 
the thought. The most common structural 
indications are the paragraphs. So far as 
these are well constructed, they will be accu- 
rate guides to the minor divisions of the 
thought : they are not always, however, infal- 
lible indexes. Certain groups of paragraphs 
will correspond with larger divisions. Where 
the work is divided into sections, chapters, 
or other equivalent parts, these will reveal 
the thought in its main outlines. 



186 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY. 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structure. 

1. Chapters, sections, etc. 

2. Paragraphs. 

B. — Style* 

II. — The Study of the Substance. 
A. — Beauty. z 
B.— Ideality. , 3 

C. — Emotion. z 

D. _ Thought. 1 

i See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 

8 See Outline for the Study of Lyric Poetry, p. 128. 



CHAPTER X 

The Study of the Novel 

The novel deals principally with humanity. 
In the treatment of individual character, it is 
dealing mostly with man ; and in the treat- 
ment of character relations, it is dealing with 
human life. We have seen that drama, being 
chiefly concerned with human action, is more 
likely to emphasize the latter. In the novel, 
however, man is likely to be more prominent ; 
for action is not so important, and there is 
more opportunity for psychological analysis. 
Another important difference between drama 
and novel is that the latter deals with the 
common man and emphasizes the worth of 
the individual soul. The novel holds closely 
to the human centre ; but it is very free in 
showing tlie relation of humanity to the other 
great subjects. Thought concerning God will 
be involved in any treatment of man's moral 

187 



188 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

or religious nature. The spiritual world is less 
often a subject of consideration. In many of 
our best novels, there is very suggestive and 
sympathetic treatment of nature. The treat- 
ment of art is incidental, but not infrequent. 
The novel is practically a combination of 
the drama and the romance. It is like the 
drama in substance and in purpose, and is 
therefore to be regarded as dramatic litera- 
ture. It is like the romance in form and 
method ; for it presents its characters and 
its plot by means of direct prose narration. 
Even more than the prose drama, the novel 
is the typical prose representative of the dra- 
matic impulse ; for the true realm of the 
drama is poetry, and the novel has made 
good its position as the most appropriate 
literary form for the representation of life 
in its more prosaic aspects. The novel is 
often inclined to a looseness of construction 
which the strict unity of drama would not 
tolerate. It is not so strenuous as drama in 
demanding that the action shall be complete 
and self-explanatory ; for the novelist may 
easily inform or explain where he fails to 






THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 189 

represent. Even more than drama, the novel 
emphasizes probability. 

The novel has a number of traditional va- 
rieties, There are, for instance, novels his- 
torical, ethical, psychological, didactic, satirical, 
of life and manners, of adventure, of definite 
purpose. Such a classification has a certain 
practical value ; but it is not based upon 
any significant principles. All of these vari- 
eties may be grouped into three classes : 
these may be called the romantic, the ideal- 
istic, and the realistic. 

The romantic novel, as the name indicates, 
has a leaning toward the romance. As com- 
pared with other classes of novels, it gives 
greater prominence to the plot and less prom- 
inence to the characters. It also chooses sub- 
jects beyond the limits of ordinary life, and 
gives greater emphasis than do the other 
classes to the liberties of fiction. Sometimes 
a work will seem to be almost on the border 
line between novel and romance. So long, 
however, as the plot does not clearly domi- 
nate the characters, or the action pass into 
the region of the extremely improbable, the 



190 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

work may fairly be called a romantic novel. 
Still further, the human element in a roman- 
tic novel should be natural and lifelike, while 
in a romance it may be vague and shadowy. 
The realistic novel stands at the opposite 
extreme from the romantic. It shows a de- 
cided preference for the study of life and 
character, and makes the plot distinctly sub- 
ordinate. It also strongly emphasizes the 
limitations rather than the liberties of fiction. 
In extremely realistic novels, the tendency is 
to minimize the plot and to make the work 
as nearly as possible a reflection of actual 
life. Absolute realism is an impossibility: 
nature may be imitated, but not reproduced. 
This, however, is no disadvantage to the art- 
ist ; for it is his business, not to copy, but 
to interpret and create. It is a false realism 
which depends upon observation rather than 
imagination, which contents itself with life's 
surface realities, or which seeks in the name 
of art to portray human vileness and de- 
pravity. The true realism seeks those spirit- 
ual realities which underlie all human life 
and which are to be discovered only by the 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 191 

insight of genius and portrayed only through 
the power of a great imagination. 

The term idealistic may be used to char- 
acterize certain novels in which imagination 
is allowed sufficient range but is more reg- 
ulated and restrained than in the romantic 
novel. Practically, it may be applied to a 
type of novel which handles a realistic sub- 
ject in a highly imaginative manner : the 
imagination constantly tends to emphasize its 
liberties, but is restrained by the fact that 
its subject belongs to the actual world. In 
dealing with life, this type of novel idealizes 
the characters and their relations, while at 
the same time it remains true to the funda- 
mental realities of human life. The interest 
in the plot is usually very great, though sub- 
ordinate to the interest in humanity. 

THE STUDY OF FORM 

Structure 

The formal structure of the novel, like its 
prose form and its direct narration, is borrowed 
from the romance. If there is any difference, 



192 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

it is that the structure of the novel is some- 
what more fixed and uniform. Indeed, the 
division of the novel into chapters is almost 
as stereotyped as the division of the drama 
into acts and scenes. The division into books 
is not quite so general; but it is still very 
common. Paragraphs in the novel are more 
real and significant parts of the structure than 
in the romance. Dialogue is so informal that 
it can hardly be regarded as a fixed structural 
element. 

Style 

The style of the novel does not differ essen- 
tially from that of other prose writings. Like 
the style of the drama, it should be objective 
in dialogue. As compared with the style of 
the romance, it is on the whole more fully 
developed as a vehicle of literary expression. 
In some cases, it has fallen into the hands of 
masters of prose; but it cannot claim preemi- 
nence over the essay. 

There is every reason why the novel should 
possess the intellectual qualities of style in a 
high degree. Its prose form is suited to the 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 193 

expression of pure thought. It has the still 
greater advantage of its origin and growth 
in an age of great prose. Its narrative method 
is conducive to simplicity in expression ; and 
clearness is usually a natural consequence. 
The greatest defects arise from the tendency 
of the novelist to concentrate his attention 
upon the ideal creations and allow the style 
to take care of itself. 

In the emotional qualities of style, the novel 
is inferior only to poetry. The play of emo- 
tions is less varied and intense than in the 
drama ; but still, the novel is a portrayal of 
life, and we may therefore expect to find in 
its style all varieties of strength, *pathos, and 
the ludicrous. The narrative form is not es- 
pecially favourable to an emotional style ; but 
in this respect the novel is at no disadvantage 
as compared with other prose. 

Imaginative qualities are less marked than 
in poetry ; but a satisfactory comparison with 
other prose is made difficult by the great di- 
versity of novels in this particular. As already 
noted in the case of the drama, the imaginative 
qualities in the style will depend upon the 



194 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

author, the characters, and the attendant cir- 
cumstances. The style of some novels may- 
be notably imaginative, while that of others 
is comparatively plain. The average novel 
is probably less imaginative in style than the 
average romance or essay. Where imaginative 
qualities are marked, the style of the novel is 
likely to be both concrete and suggestive. 

Very much the same principles will apply 
in the case of the aesthetic qualities; for the 
imaginative and the beautiful are apt to be 
associated with each other. The style of the 
novel will be distinctly less beautiful than that 
of most poetry. Even in prose styles, how- 
ever, there ts great diversity ; and the beauty 
of the novelist's style will be in proportion to 
the poetical capabilities of the man and the 
subject. The style of most novelists is prob- 
ably surpassed in beauty by that of other great 
prose writers. 

THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 
In the novel, even more than in the drama, 
doubt is raised as to whether beauty is the 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 195 

supreme end. Extreme realism insists upon 
fidelity to life as the novelist's main purpose, 
insists even upon his right to portray whatever 
he finds in humanity. If, however, the novel 
is a work of art, it must conform to the laws 
of all literature. It may fairly seek ideal 
truth as one of its objects ; but through this 
it must reach the ultimate end of ideal beauty. 
If it concerns itself with the deformities of 
humanity, or even w^ith truth and morality, 
for their own sake, it spoils a fine work of art 
to make a foul study of human disease or 
a weak treatise on philosophy, science, or 
religion. 

We may expect to find beauty manifested 
in the novel substantially as in the drama. 
First of all, then, in the portrayal of humanity. 
Characters will be beautiful, in body, mind, and 
spirit. Beauty will also appear in the general 
picture of life. There is, of course, more 
opportunity in the novel to reveal the common 
and unheroic side of life ; but it is the test 
of true artistic genius that it can discover 
beauty even here. We may also expect to find 
beauty in the plot. It will appear in the gen- 



196 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

eral effect of the story and in the various 
events. Beautiful details are not likely to 
be so numerous or so impressive as in the 
drama ; but we shall still find much to observe. 

The beauty of the novel is humbler in its 
origin and in its manifestations than the beauty 
of poetry or romance. It is not, however, less 
true or less varied. It is the function of the 
novelist to discover and to portray the beauty 
of common life ; and if he fails, it is because he 
lacks the requisite insight and creative power. 
Physical beauty there may easily be ; but we 
must see that the common man is also capable 
of beauty intellectual and spiritual. Other- 
wise, the novel is false to life and to art ; for 
the world is full of noble thinking, of lofty 
aspiration, of pure motive and impulse. 

The unbeautiful element is likely to be large. 
The novelist does not often seek the grander 
contrasts of epic and drama ; but he is compelled 
to recognize that life contains much that is 
coarse and evil, and his portrayal will naturally 
involve such contrasts as life itself affords. 
These contrasts will appear in characters, in 
relations, in events : they are more likely to 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 197 

be found in the human element than in the 
plot. Where the novelist portrays evil and 
baseness in excess or for their own sake, he is 
morbid or false. 

Ideality 

Like the drama, the novel is primarily a 
representation of a certain section of human 
life. This representation is made through the 
medium of narrative. Therefore the ideal ele- 
ment in the novel will consist of the general 
picture of life, the individual characters, and 
the plot. As in the drama, a grasp of the 
leading outlines and general effect of this rep- 
resentation will give us the main ideal concep- 
tion and will prepare us for the more intelligent 
study of details. 

We may then turn to the study of the gen- 
eral picture of life. Here we are concerned 
first with the particular section of life which 
the novel portrays ; for it is desirable that we 
should know the relation of the life represented 
in the novel to human life in general. Our 
further study has to do with the relations of 
character which make up the picture of life. 



198 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

As we have seen in the drama, these relations 
are best made apparent through a consideration 
of the groups into which characters naturally 
fall by virtue of their relations. The princi- 
ples of association by which the groups are 
formed will be much the same as in the drama, 
and will vary with the individual work and 
with the relations there represented. In most 
novels, on account of their greater freedom, the 
groups will not be so well defined as in the 
drama. 

The study of individual character involves 
the two points of consideration already noted 
— namely, character-portrayal and character- 
development. We shall not always find these 
as distinctly marked as in the drama ; and the 
point at which portrayal is practically complete 
and development begins must be a matter for 
judgment independently of the structural divi- 
sions of the work. Of course, some characters 
are portrayed only in the barest outline ; and 
others receive practically no development. In 
the great characters of great novels, we shall 
find character study most fully illustrated. In 
any case, we are simply to interpret what the 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 199 

author has represented, whether it be meagre 
or complete. We have seen that the drama 
makes its representation of character almost 
entirely by means of dialogue and action. In 
addition to these, the novel uses also direct 
description and exposition of character. The 
drama, like actual life, lets its characters 
speak and act, and leaves judgment to the 
beholder ; in the novel, we have as it were an 
interpreter between us and the characters. We 
must, then, as in the drama, study those words 
and actions through which character is directly 
revealed ; and in addition, we must study the 
novelist's word picture of external appearances, 
his analysis of the more spiritual elements that 
lie behind — his own interpretation of his own 
work. On the whole, this method of charac- 
terization is less artistic than that of the drama. 
In the first place, the author is likely to become 
too prominent ; and again, the direct evidence 
as to character is likely to be less significant 
and typical because the novelist can so easily 
resort to description or explanation. As in the 
drama, we must hold that the work itself fur- 
nishes our only evidence, that all of the evidence 



200 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

must be considered, that the character of the 
evidence must be carefully estimated, that 
testimony as to details should be considered in 
the light of the whole, and that intellectual 
interpretation should be supplemented by a 
sympathetic and imaginative conception of 
living beings. The details of practical method 
have been outlined in our discussion of the 
drama, and need not be repeated here. 

The plot of the novel resembles that of the 
drama in giving greater prominence to the char- 
acters ; but in its general outlines, it most nearly 
resembles the plot of the romance. The main 
points of interest have already been suggested 
by our study of plot in connection with the 
romance, the drama, and the epic. We must 
first state the result of the plot. Then we 
must study the development, with its various 
stages of progress, its different threads of in- 
terest, and its effective means. The relation 
of plot to structure is the same as in the ro- 
mance. The details of the narrative art will 
usually be more important than in the ro- 
mance, since the novel is likely to represent 
greater constructive skill. The separate 



THE STUDY OF THE XOVEL 201 

events are likely to be more significant and 
interesting. The novel is not so likely to 
follow the simple chronological order ; and so 
we shall more frequently be called upon to 
consider the synchronism of events. The 
arts of contrast, climax, surprise, and sugges- 
tion are fully displayed. Episodes occur ; 
but the novel is rather intolerant of them. 
Description is freely used : its office is to aid 
in the portrayal of the characters, to set 
forth scenes and situations, to give as it were 
the background or stage-setting. Interwoven 
plots present substantially the same problems 
as in other narrative literature : the method 
of study has already been outlined in our 
discussion of the epic and the drama. The 
closeness of the novel to real life naturally 
tends to exclude the supernatural. In the 
rare cases where it does occur, we shall need 
no guidance for its study other than that 
already suggested. It almost invariably rep- 
resents something morbid in the human 
characters. 

The novel usually contains a large element 
of reality. Thought and emotion are real ; 



202 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

but as iii the drama, they are for the most 
part idealized by being incorporated in the 
imaginary characters. Not infrequently, how- 
ever, the author directly presents his own 
real thought and feeling. Beyond this, there 
will be something of a real basis for the plot 
and characters. Very often, this will be 
simply the result of the author's observation 
of real life. Here, of course, we can only 
make a general comparison between the 
ideal creations and real life as we know 
and understand it. The real local setting 
is often very clearly defined. The study of 
it is interesting and important ; for it enables 
us to provide for our imaginations the back- 
ground and the scenes which the stage-set- 
ting of the drama visibly presents. The 
historical novel is a well-recognized variety : 
its plot and characters are either drawn from 
history or located amid historical surround- 
ings. Here the question of historical setting 
is definitely presented ; and it may often be 
studied with great fulness and satisfaction. 
The method of study is similar to that 
already suggested in the case of the drama. 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 203 

The study of sources is seldom involved ; for 
the novel seldom borrows its plot and charac- 
ters, unless it be from history. Where the 
problem is presented, it is to be studied as in 
other literature. 

Emotion 

Emotion is necessarily a prominent feature 
of the novel, since a picture of life and char- 
acter must involve to a large extent the por- 
trayal of feeling. The range of emotions is 
wide, for even common life has its emotions 
of every kind. These emotions will often 
have a commonplace setting ; but they will 
be none the less significant and profound. 
There is often great complexity of feeling ; 
and analysis will be correspondingly difficult. 
The dominant emotion will, however, usually 
appear in the chief character or in the mutual 
relations of two or more leading personages. 
It will sometimes be found comparatively rare 
and subtle ; but the rule applies here, as in 
other literature, that the greatest work is 
usually based upon the most common and 
most nearly universal human feeling. Love 



204 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

is, of course, one of the most frequent 
emotions in the novel. Minor emotions are 
likely to be many and various, both in their 
nature and mode of manifestation. Here 
again, the several characters will be our best 
guide. The study of the relations of emotions 
and of their causes and effects will not always 
be easy. The importance of these matters, 
in connection with a study of human life, has 
already been pointed out in our study of the 
drama. 

Emotion in the novel should be objective ; 
but not infrequently, we shall find that the 
novelist has given expression to his own per- 
sonal feeling. This matter is particularly 
important here ; for the freedom of the novel 
offers a temptation which too many authors 
seem unable to resist. Subjective emotion 
almost invariably injures an objective picture 
of life ; for it is likely to mar the living per- 
sonality of the characters and to falsify the 
portrayal of humanity. ' The novelist should 
portray, and let the picture speak for itself, 
without attempting to influence our judgment 
by his own praise or blame or by any other 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 205 

intrusion of himself. Artistic sympathy and 
impartiality are among the greatest secrets 
of true dramatic portrayal. 

Thought 

Thought in the novel ranges through all 
degrees of difficulty and importance, from 
commonplace to profound. It is, however, 
usually more difficult to determine than to 
understand. If the novel be truly a concrete 
and objective portrayal of life, the difficulty 
is that which always arises under such cir- 
cumstances — namely, that the picture tends 
to hide the thought which it reveals. More- 
over, the novel often approaches the drama in 
complexity. 

As in the drama, the central thought is 
likely to appear through the general effect 
of the treatment of humanity and also 
through the effect of the plot. Sometimes, 
the author may definitely state his purpose ; 
but we naturally resent having a moral thrust 
upon us. A truly artistic work will convey 
its own meaning without an interpreter. 



206 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

When the central thought is once grasped, 
its different aspects will be readily seen. 

The study of the development of the 
thought will be the more easy if we have 
made a proper analysis of the plot ; for the 
progress of the thought will usually corre- 
spond, in its various stages, with the progress 
of the story. The growing tendency of the 
novel toward unity and proportion is an aid 
in the discovery of the thought and the study 
of its development. Minor thoughts in the 
novel are often of great interest and value. 
To ignore them, in any full study, is to miss 
some of the profoundest reflections upon man 
and human life. 

The central thought of the novel often 
takes the form of a practical or didactic pur- 
pose. The so-called " novel of purpose" has 
been much disparaged, and justly so ; for the 
effort to inculcate a moral lesson, to attack 
an existing evil, to enforce a particular truth, 
has marred many a fine work of art. On 
the other hand, however, every work must 
have sufficient purpose to give it unity and 
coherence. The real distinction would seem 



THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 207 

to be that a work is great in proportion as 
its purpose ceases to be local and limited, 
and becomes broad and general. It is the 
restricted purpose, the purpose that involves 
prejudice, personal opinion, praise or blame, 
which alone mars the artistic value of the 
work. When the novel has for its purpose 
to set forth some theory or to accomplish 
some reform, the artist is apt to forget his 
art in advocating his cause; but when the 
purpose is some broad study of human life 
and its conditions, then the work may be 
great and enduring. 

OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL 

I. — The Study of the Form. 

A. — Structured 

B. — Style* 

II. — The Study of the Substance. 

A. — Beauty.* 

B. — Ideality.* 

C. — Emotion. 1 

D. _ Thought. 1 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 

4 See Outline for the Study of Drama, pp. 151-152. 

5 See Outline for the Study of Prose Romance, p. 169. 



CHAPTER XI 

The Study of Descriptive Literature 

We have observed that literature in general 
tends to seek the human centre. This is 
least true of description. Something of human 
interest may be always involved ; but human- 
ity is far from being an exclusive subject of 
treatment. Indeed, description may conceiv- 
ably deal with objects falling under any of 
the general classes of literary subject-matter. 
Probably nature is the most frequent subject 
of descriptive effort : description of natural 
objects is common and comparatively easy. 
Scarcely less so is the description of works 
of human art. Next comes the subject of 
humanity. Man may be described, either in 
his person or in his character. So also may 
the various states, conditions, and relations of 
human life. With God in His person, de- 
scription is least likely to deal, although this 

208 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 209 

is not altogether inconceivable ; but it may 
easily deal with certain attributes or activi- 
ties of the Deity. Spiritual beings and their 
attributes are also possible and not infrequent 
subjects of description. 

The fundamental characteristic of descrip- 
tion is that it seeks to represent objects 
through language. In other literature, we 
speak most naturally of a subject of treat- 
ment. In description, we may more signifi- 
cantly speak of an object of portrayal. Such 
objects are of a great variety of kinds. Ob- 
jects of sight are the most common ; but 
description may also appeal to any of the 
other senses. Nor does it stop here ; for 
what has been said as to its treatment of 
humanity and of superhuman beings implies 
that it may represent the spiritual as well as 
the material. It is sometimes assumed that 
pure description is properly a real product. 
This, however, is a narrow view of its office ; 
for just as narrative may take the form of 
history or of epic poetry, so description may 
be either real or ideal. Of course, ideal de- 
scription alone can be called literature. 



210 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

We have already observed that description 
is commonly found associated with other lit- 
erary forms, and has probably produced no 
typical works of its own class. Obviously, 
then, a definite classification of its varieties 
is out of the question. The most evident 
division is into descriptive poetry and de- 
scriptive prose. Common to both forms of 
expression, there are certain familiar kinds or 
modes of description. With reference to 
the effect produced, description may be either 
circumstantial or dynamic. The former seeks 
to portray the object in its details, to inform 
us thoroughly as to all its features. The 
latter selects what is striking and effective, 
and seeks to convey to us the special impres- 
sions which the object seems fitted to create. 
With reference to the spirit of the portrayal, 
description may be either objective or sub- 
jective. Objective description seeks to por- 
tray the object exactly as it is, with no 
alteration of its attributes or characteristics : 
such description need be none the less ideal 
because of its objective nature. Subjective 
description portrays the object rather as it 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 211 

affects the describer or as it is coloured by 
his mood. Something of a lyrical effect is 
thus produced ; but we need not therefore 
hold with those who assume that the descrip- 
tive character of the portrayal is necessarily 
lost in the lyrical spirit. Circumstantial 
description is more likely to be objective ; 
and dynamic description is more likely to 
be subjective. The nature of the descrip- 
tion is of course largely determined by the 
kind of literature with which it is found in 
union. 

THE STUDY OF FOKM 

Structure 

Inasmuch as description is a type of lit- 
erature without any specific forms of its own, 
it can hardly be said to involve the problem 
of structure at all. At best, it does so only 
in a very elementary way. Of course, we 
may have here, as elsewhere, the structure 
of the paragraph or the stanza ; but beyond 
this, the structure of description is lost in 
the structure of the work of which it forms 



212 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

a part. Indeed, paragraph and stanza are 
themselves features of this larger structure. 
They may, however, be observed particularly 
in their relation to the descriptive passages. 

Metre 

In its poetic forms, description will involve 
the subject of metre. As descriptive poetry 
is found mingled with epic, lyric, and drama, 
its metres may be of almost any kind and will 
involve almost all metrical problems. Our 
only business is to observe the kind of metre 
used in any particular passage and to study 
it according to the principles already laid 
down. It may be noted that metre often 
serves the descriptive purpose by helping in 
the vivid portrayal of the object. To the 
description of certain objects, for instance, 
poetry is much better adapted than prose ; 
and the nature of the verse is often deter- 
mined by the particular descriptive purpose. 

Style 

Good description is difficult to accomplish 
in language ; and the writer needs all the 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 213 

resources of style in order to attain his ob- 
ject. It follows that the style of admirable 
and effective description is likely to be of a 
high order of excellence and to have its 
artistic qualities strongly marked. 

Descriptive style is not usually very intel- 
lectual ; but since the author is concerned to 
make his language convey definite and dis- 
tinct impressions, it is likely to possess in 
some degree the ordinary intellectual qual- 
ities. It will probably be as correct as any 
other good literary style. In clearness, it 
should excel ; for description that does not 
readily convey its meaning fails in its main 
purpose. It will not usually possess sim- 
plicity ; for descriptive style is often height- 
ened and strained to produce striking effects. 

The very energy of the effort to make 
strong and definite impressions will tend to 
emphasize the emotional qualities. Strength 
is likely to be the most notable : its nature 
will of course depend upon the object de- 
scribed, the feeling of the author, and the 
energy of the descriptive effort. Pathos and 
the ludicrous are less common ; but they will 



214 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

of course appear whenever the described ob- 
ject is of a character to excite tender or 
humorous feeling. 

In order to accomplish the essential pur- 
pose of description, the portrayal of objects, 
it is necessary that style should be highly 
imaginative. The nature of the imaginative 
qualities will depend largely upon the object 
portrayed. If, for instance, it be physical, 
the style will be concrete. If it be visible, 
the style will be picturesque. If it be 
spiritual, suggestiveness will be added to 
concreteness. 

Descriptive style will usually tend to be 
beautiful ; but this again depends upon the 
object. If that be beautiful, it will tend to 
produce aesthetic qualities in style. If the 
object be unbeautiful, the style is likely to 
be lacking in melody, but may manifest in 
a high degree the beauty of harmony between 
sound and sense. Propriety may of course 
be manifested in any case. Descriptive 
poetry will usually have more of beauty in 
its style, as well as more of emotion and 
imagination, than descriptive prose. 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 215 
THE STUDY OF SUBSTANCE 

Beauty 

In the study of literary substance, we have 
found that the beauty of narration is the 
beauty of the story, that the beauty of sub- 
jective literature is the beauty of the image 
or symbol presented, and that the beauty of 
dramatic literature is the beauty of life and 
character. The beauty of substance in de- 
scription is the beauty of the object por- 
trayed. Such beauty may, of course, be very 
great. We may expect to find it first in the 
author's main conception of the object which 
he presents to the imagination. It will also 
appear in various parts of the object ; and 
as we pass from these minor conceptions to 
the smaller details of the description, we may 
discover many illustrations of its presence. 

Dealing with such a great variety of objects, 
description may involve beauty of many kinds 
and degrees. Physical beauty will be most 
frequent, since description most often por- 
trays material things, The description of 
mental characteristics or states may involve 



216 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

beauty of the intellectual order ; but this is 
rather less common. Spiritual beauty is only 
less frequent than physical. The author de- 
scribes character, motives, spiritual states and 
conditions ; and in so doing, he may present 
to us the spiritual beauty of lofty souls, of 
pure purposes, of sweet and noble lives. In 
all of these kinds, beauty may be of all 
degrees, from the pleasing or attractive to 
the grand or sublime. 

Description may often involve an unbeauti- 
ful element, since it is quite possible for it to 
portray unbeautiful objects. Where such an 
element appears, it is likely to be very strongly 
marked. Its portrayal is usually made for a 
very definite purpose. Unbeautiful objects 
are seldom presented for their own sake, but 
almost invariably as foils for the beautiful. 
Description is fond of those striking contrasts 
which form such a large element in all litera- 
ture ; for by contrast, its desired effects are 
presented with greater vividness and power. 
The principle holds here, as elsewhere, that 
the portrayal of the unbeautiful is artistic only 
when it serves finally the ends of beauty. 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 217 

Ideality 

The element of ideality in description is 
simply the writer's conception of the object 
which he seeks to portray. It may therefore 
be as various as the kinds of objects described. 
It is most often the mental picture of some 
visible object. Sometimes, it is a succession 
or combination of sounds. Less frequently, 
it may be something appealing to the other 
senses, as agreeable or disagreeable odours, 
sweet or bitter viands, smooth or rough ma- 
terials, etc. Again, it may be the conception 
of some spiritual object, as a character or a 
mental state. In studying this ideal element, 
we are practically called upon to consider 
what we may call the internal — as distin- 
guished from the outward or formal — struc- 
ture of the description. As with the plot in 
narrative literature, the study of this inter- 
nal structure will reveal the various ideal 
conceptions of the work. 

We may begin with a statement of the 
general idea of the described object : this is 
essentially a statement of the main ideal con- 



218 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

ception. We may then proceed to study the 
descriptive process, through which we may 
arrive at a knowledge of minor ideal con- 
ceptions and of the relation of the larger 
and smaller parts to each other and to the 
whole. Here, we must first observe the 
point of view — the physical, mental, or spirit- 
ual relation of the author to the object which 
he portraj^s. This relation is of prime im- 
portance ; for it determines how the author 
will see the object, and therefore how he 
will describe it. The next point of con- 
sideration is the structural outline. This is 
the skeleton which the writer clothes with 
flesh. To comprehend it clearly is to see 
the main features of the described object, to 
understand the plan upon which the author 
has worked, to prepare ourselves for a more 
distinct and vivid conception of the portrayal. 
We are then ready to consider the arrange- 
ment of the details. This involves the order, 
proportion, and relation of the several parts 
that go to make up the complete portrayal. 

The real element in description is often 
large. As in other literature, whatever 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 219 

thought and emotion may be involved will 
of course be real. Beyond this, there are in 
general three distinct cases presented. In 
the first, the object is entirely real, and the 
writer endeavours to portray it vividly but 
faithfully. Here, imagination shows itself 
principally in the style, and is the result of 
the author's attempt to convey a distinct im- 
pression of the object. In proportion as the 
portrayal is faithful, it will be wanting in 
ideality of substance. This, however, cannot 
be entirely lacking in a really artistic work : 
for the artist portrays, not the object, but his 
conception of the object ; and in this, some 
degree of imagination is necessarily involved. 
In the second case, the object is still real ; but 
the author allows himself more liberty in 
embellishing and idealizing. Here, the real ele- 
ment is relatively less, but still large. Ideal- 
ity is likely to appear in details more than in 
the main conception. In the third case, the 
object is imaginary ; and the ideal element 
is of course relatively large. The real ele- 
ment is not lacking ; but it is very vague 
and general. It consists in the author's gen- 



220 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

eral knowledge of physical or spiritual quali- 
ties and characteristics ; for out of such 
realities, even the most ideal picture must 
be composed. 

Emotion 

Emotion plays an important part in de- 
scription ; for through its influence, the por- 
trayal gains in vividness and power. The 
dominant emotion will usually be simple and 
apparent. Sometimes, it may be somewhat 
hidden by the description itself ; and occa- 
sionally, it may be really subtle or compli- 
cated. Minor emotions are not likely to be 
many or varied. As a rule, some one domi- 
nant impulse gives life to the whole. The 
relation of emotions to each other is usually 
simple. The causes and effects of emotions 
may or may not be readily apparent : in any 
case, they are likely to be significant. 

The relation of emotion to description 
varies according as the description is objec- 
tive or subjective. In objective description, 
emotion may appear in either of two ways. 
First, it may exist in the object portrayed, as 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 221 

in the character, mood, or feeling of some 
real or imaginary personage. In the second 
place, it may be simply the author's enthusi- 
asm for his object or his earnestness in en- 
deavouring to make a vivid portrayal. Emo- 
tion of the first sort will be purely objective. 
Emotion of the second sort will be subjec- 
tive, but without necessarily affecting the 
objective character of the description. In sub- 
jective description, the author feels strongly, 
and allows that feeling to modify his por- 
trayal of the object. When this becomes so 
extreme that our interest is transferred from 
the object to the feeling, it may produce, as 
we have previously observed, an effect that 
is lyrical rather than descriptive. It is quite 
possible, however, to have subjective descrip- 
tion in which the interest still centres in the 
object. This introduction of subjective feel- 
ing is but another illustration of pathetic 
fallacy. 

Thought 

It may often seem as though description 
were concerned simply with the portrayal of 



222 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

the object and not at all with the expression of 
thought. If one should describe a real object 
with the utmost possible literalness and with- 
out any attempt to make a vivid and impres- 
sive picture, it might perhaps be said that 
the thought involved was so small as to be 
practically non-existent. Description of this 
elementary kind, however, hardly comes within 
the range of literature. When one has a 
real artistic interest in an object and a desire 
to portray it with vividness and power, he 
will certainly embody something of thought 
in his description. Where the author aims 
simply at vivid portrayal of a real object, 
the thought may be hard to discover, or at 
least hard to state. We can hardly speak of 
any abstract principle or proposition that has 
been transmuted into ideal form. About all 
that we can do is to ask what thoughts 
about the object have inspired the description 
and are suggested by it. When the object 
of description is purely ideal, the situation is 
more clearly analogous to what we find in 
other literature. Here, the author has some 
abstract thought which his ideal creations are 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 223 

intended to represent and embody. The 
clearest case of this kind is where the ideal 
object is allegorical or symbolical. When 
description deals with any spiritual object, 
we may also be sure of finding thought be- 
hind the portrayal. The only probable diffi- 
culty in discovering the thought is likely 
to arise from the extreme concreteness of 
description. Thought will seldom be so ab- 
struse or complicated as to present any serious 
difficulty from that source. 

The central thought is never likely to be set 
forth definitely in the description, as it often is 
in the lyric and the essay. To discover and 
state it may often require real insight and 
literary judgment. It will usually be so 
simple and single as not to be susceptible of 
separation into parts or phases. There may 
be some development of thought ; and for the 
discovery and analysis of this, we must de- 
pend upon our literary judgment in each 
individual case. We are not likely to be 
much helped by structural indications. In 
the first pMce, description has no definite 
structure ; and in the second place, structural 



224 THE INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

divisions will usually correspond with the 
parts of the description, and not necessarily 
with divisions of the thought. 

OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF DESCRIP- 
TIVE LITERATURE. 

I. — The Study of the Form. 
A. — Structure. 

1. Paragraphs or stanzas. 

2. Structure of description as a part of gen- 

eral literary structure. 
B._ Metre. 1 
C. _ Style? 
II. — The Study of the Substance. 

A. — Beauty. 

1. Beauty in the main conception of the ob- 

ject described. 

2. Beauty in parts and details of the object. 

3. The kind of beauty. 1 

4. The unbeautiful element. 2 

B. — Ideality. 

1. The internal structure of the description. 

(a) Statement of the general idea of the 

described object. 

(b) The descriptive process. 

(1) The point of view. 

(2) The structural outline. 

(3) The arrangement of the details. 

i See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 

2 See Outline for the Study of Epic Poetry, pp. 108-109. 



THE STUDY OF DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE 225 

2. The real element. 

(a) Thought and emotion. 

(b) Eeality in the object described. 
C. — Emotion. 1 

D.— Thought. 1 

1 See General Outline, pp. 80-81. 
Q 



APPENDIX 

COLLATERAL READIXG 
I. — General 

Corson, Hiram. A Primer of English Verse. 

Corson, Hiram. The Aims of Literary Study. 

Crawford, F. M. The Xovel: What It Is. 

Freytag, Gustav. Technique of the Drama. 

Gummere, F. B. A Handbook of Poetics. 

Hales, J. W« Longer English Poems (Introduction). 

Howells, W. D. Criticism and Fiction. 

Hunt, J. H. Leigh. What is Poetry? (from "Imagina- 
tion and Fancy"). 

Lanier, Sidney. The English Xovel. 

Lanier, Sidney. The Science of English Verse. 

Lessing, G. E. Laocoon. 

Lewes, G. H. The Principles of Success in Literature. 

Minto, William. A Manual of English Prose Literature 
(Introduction). 

Moulton, R. G. Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. 

Posnett, H. M. Comparative Literature. 

Ruskin, John. Modern Painters, Pt. I; Pt, III; Pt. IV, 
Ch. xii. • 

Shelley, P. B. A Defense of Poetry. 

227 



228 APPENDIX 

Sherman, L. A. Analytics of Literature. 

Stedman, E. C. The Nature and Elements of Poetry. 



II. — Classified Masterpieces 
A. — Epic Poetry 

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400). The Canterbury Tales. 

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). The Faerie Queene. 

John Milton (1608-1674). Paradise Lost. 

John Dryden (1631-1700). The Hind and the Panther. 

Alexander Pope (1688-1744). The Rape of the Lock. 

Robert Burns (1759-1796). Tarn O'Shanter. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). The Rime of 
the Ancient Mariner. 

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). The Lady of the Lake. 

George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824). Childe Har- 
old. 

John Keats (1795-1821). The Eve of St. Agnes. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1809-1861). Aurora 
Leigh . 

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). Sohrab and Rustum. 

Robert Browning (1812-1889). The Flight of the 
Duchess. 

Alfred (Lord) Tennyson (1809-1892). The Idylls of 
the King. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). Evangel- 
ine. 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891). The Vision of Sir 
Launfal, 



APPENDIX 229 

B. — Lyric Poetry 

Spenser. Epithalamion. 

William Shakspere (1564-1616). Sonnets. 

Milton. L' Allegro. II Penseroso. Lycidas. Sonnets. 

Dry den. A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. 

Pope. Essay on Man. 

Thomas Gray (1716-1771). The Progress of Poesy. 
The Bard. Elegy Written in a Country Church- 
yard. 

Burns. To Mary in Heaven. The Banks o' Doon. 
Farewell to Nancy. Highland Mary. 

William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Lines Composed 
above Tintern Abbey. Lucy. Ode to Duty. Ode 
on Intimations of Immortality. Miscellaneous Son- 
nets. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). The Cloud. To a 
Skylark. Adonais. Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. 

Keats. Ode to a Nightingale. Ode on a Grecian L^rn. 
To Autumn. Sonnets. 

Mrs. Browning. Sonnets from the Portuguese. A Mu- 
sical Instrument. The Cry of the Children. Cow- 
per's Grave. 

Arnold. Dover Beach. Rugby Chapel. Thyrsis. 

Browning. Prospice. Evelyn Hope. Popularity. Abt 
Vogler. Epilogue to Asolando. 

Tennyson. Sir Galahad. Break, Break, Break. In 
Memoriam. Ode on the Death of the Duke of 
Wellington. Crossing the Bar. 

William Cullen Bryant (1791-1878). Thanatopsis. To 
a Waterfowl. The Flood of Years. 



230 APPENDIX 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). The Sphinx. The 
Humble-Bee. Threnody. 

Longfellow. The Skeleton in Armor. The Arsenal at 
Springfield. The Bridge. Resignation. 

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892). My Soul and I. 
Ichabod. The Eternal Goodness. 

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). The Raven. The Bells. 
Annabel Lee. Israfel. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894). The Last Leaf. 
The Chambered Nautilus. The Old Man Dreams. 

Lowell. The Present Crisis. To a Dandelion. Jona- 
than to John. Commemoration Ode. 

C. — Drama 

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593). The Jew of Malta. 
Shakspere. Richard III. The Merchant of Venice. 

Julius Caesar. Hamlet. Othello. Macbeth. King 

Lear. The Tempest. 
Ben Jonson (1573-1637). The Alchemist. Masques. 
Francis Beaumont (1586-1616) and John Fletcher (1579- 

1625). Philaster. 
John Webster (15— ?-16— ?). The Duchess of Main. 
Philip Massinger (1584-1640). A New Way to Pay Old 

Debts. 
John Ford (1586-1640 ?). The Broken Heart. 
Milton. Comus. Samson Agonistes. 
Dry den. The Spanish Friar. 
William Congreve (1670-1729). Love for Love. 
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774). She Stoops to Conquer. 
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). The Rivals. 
Byron. Manfred. 



APPENDIX 231 

Shelley. Prometheus Unbound. 

Browning. Pippa Passes. 

Tennyson. Becket. 

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837- ). Atalanta in 

Calydon. 
Longfellow. Christus. 

D. — Prose Romance 

Sir Thomas Malory (about 1470). Morte d' Arthur. 

Sir Thomas More (1480-1535). Utopia (Latin). 

John Lyly (1553-1606). Euphues. 

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586). Arcadia. 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626). The New Atlantis (unfin- 
ished). 

John Bunyan (1628-1688). The Pilgrim's Progress. 

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731). Robinson Crusoe. 

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Gulliver's Travels. 

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Rasselas. 

Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859). Klosterheim. 

Edward Bulwer (Lord) Lytton (1805-1873). The Com- 
ing Race. 

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889). The Moonstone. 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1845-1894). Dr. Jekyll and 
Mr. Hyde. 

Washington Irving (1783-1859). Rip Van Winkle. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). A Wonder Book. 

Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher. 

E.— The Essay 
Bacon. Essays. 
Milton. Areopagitica. 



232 APPENDIX 

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). Holy Dying. 

Bunyan. Grace Abounding. 

Dry den. An Essay of Dramatic Poesy. 

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Sir Richard Steele 
(1671-1729). Sir Roger de Coverley Papers from 
the Spectator. 

Defoe. The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. 

Swift. The Conduct of the Allies. 

Goldsmith. Essays. 

Johnson. The Idler. 

Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Letter to a Noble Lord. 

Coleridge. Biographia Literaria. 

Charles Lamb (1775-1834). Essays of Elia. 

De Quincey. Biographical and Historical Essays. 

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859). Essays Crit- 
ical and Historical. 

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). Heroes and Hero- Wor- 
ship. 

Irving. The Sketch Book, passim. 

Emerson. Essays. 

Lowell. Among My Books. 

F.— The Novel 

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761). Pamela. Clarissa 

Harlowe. 
Henry Fielding (1707-1754).- Joseph Andrews. Tom 

Jones. 
Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771). Humphrey 

Clinker. 
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768). Tristram Shandy. 



APPEXDIX 233 

Goldsmith. The Vicar of "Wakefield. 

Scott. The Heart of Midlothian. Ivanhoe. Kenil- 

worth. Quentin Durward. 
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863). Vanity 

Fair. Pendennis. Henry Esmond. The Xew- 

comes. 
Charles Dickens (1812-1870). The Old Curiosity Shop. 

David Copperfield. Bleak Honse. A Tale of Two 

Cities. 
George Eliot (1820-1881). Adam Bede. The Mill on 

the Floss. Silas Maimer. Koniola. 
Charles Keade (1814-1881). The Cloister and the 

Hearth. 
Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825- ). Lorna 

Doone. 
George Meredith (1828- ). The Egoist. 
Stevenson. The Master of Ballantrae. 
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). The Spy. The 

Pilot. The Last of the Mohicans. 
Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter. The House of the 

Seven Gables. The Marble Faun. 
William Dean Howells (1837- ). A Modern In- 
stance. 
Henry James, Jr. (1843- ). The Bostonians. 
George Washington Cable (1844- ). The Grandis- 

simes. 

G. — Description 

Chaucer. Prologue to Canterbury Tales, passim. 
Spenser. The Faerie Queene (Book H, Canto vii — 
The Cave of Mammon). 



234 APPENDIX 

Shakspere. King Henry IV, Pt. II (Act III, Scene i — 

Invocation to Sleep). 
Milton. Paradise Lost (Book I, passim — Satan and His 

Legions in Hell). 
Bunyan. Pilgrim's Progress (Part I, Fourth Stage — 

The Valley of the Shadow of Death). 
Dryden. Annus Mirabilis (The Fire of London). 
Steele. The Spectator (No. 2 — The Members of the 

Spectator Club). 
Pope. The Rape of the Lock (Book II — Belinda on the 

Thames) . 
Defoe. A Journal of the Plague Year (The State of 

London during the Plague). 
Goldsmith. The Deserted Village, passim. 
Johnson . Rasselas (Ch . I — The Happy Valley) . 
William Cowper (1731-1800). The Task (Book IV — 

The Postman— The Snow). 
Wordsworth. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (The Daf- 
fodils). 
Coleridge. The Ancient Mariner (Part III — The Skele- 
ton Ship). 
Scott. Marmion (Canto IV — The Scottish Camp near 

Edinburgh). 
Byron. The Dream, passim. 
Shelley. Alastor (The Poet). 
Keats. Hyperion (Book II — The Assembly of the 

Titans). 
De Quincey. Three Memorable Murders (Mary at the 

Door of the Man Household). 
Arnold. Sohrab and Rustum (The River Oxus). 
Browning. Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, 

passim. 



APPENDIX 235 

Tennyson. The Lady of Shalott, passim. 

Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities (Book HI, Ch. xv — 
The Death of Sidney Carton). 

George Eliot. Adam Bede (Ch. I — The Carpenter 
Shop). 

Carlyle. The French Revolution (Vol. I, Book VII, 
Ch. x — The Attack on Versailles). 

Irving. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Ichabod Crane). 

Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter (Ch. II — The Market- 
place). 

Longfellow. The Courtship of Miles Standish (Pt. IX 
— The Wedding). 

Whittier. Snow-Bound (The Snow Storm). 

Poe. The Haunted Palace, passim. 

Lowell. Pictures from Appledore, passim. 



A HISTORY 



EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Being the History of English Poetry from its Beginnings 
to the Accession of King Alfred. 



REV. STOPFORD A. BROOKE. 

WITH MAPS. 

Large i2mo. Gilt top. $2.50. 



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— Prof. Charles F. Richardson, Dartmouth College. 

" I know of no literary estimate of Anglo-Saxon poetry that in breadth 
of view and sympathetic appreciation can be compared with this." 

— Prof. W. E. Mead, Wesleyan University. 

" In this work we have the view of a real lover of literature, and we have 
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pleasure in itself." — The Christian Union. 

" No other book exists in English from which a reader unacquainted 
with Anglo-Saxon may gain so vivid a sense of the literary quality of our 
earliest poetry." — The Dial. 

" A delightful exposition of the poetic spirit and achievement of the 
eighth century." — Chicago Tribune. 

" In Mr. Stopford Brooke's monumental work he strives with rare skill 
and insight to present our earliest national poetry as a living literature, and 
not as a mere material for research." — London Times. 

" It is a monument of scholarship and learning, while it furnishes an 
authentic history of English literature at a period when little before was 
known respecting it." — Pitblic Opinion. 

" It is a comprehensive critical account of Anglo-Saxon poetry from its 
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A HISTORY 

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ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE. 

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Price, $1.00, net. 



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" Mr. Saintsbury has produced a most useful, first-hand survey — com- 
prehensive, compendious, and spirited — of that unique period of literary 
history when 'all the muses still were in their prime.' One knows not 
where else to look for so well-proportioned and well-ordered conspectus of 
the astonishingly varied and rich products of the turning English mind 
during the century that begins with Tortel's Miscellany and the birth of 
Bacon, and closes with the restoration." — The Dial. 

" Regarding Mr. Saintsbtiry's work we know not where else to find so 
compact, yet comprehensive, so judicious, weighty, and well written a 
review and critique of Elizabethan literature. But the analysis generally 
is eminently distinguished by insight, delicacy, and sound judgment, and 
that applies quite as much to the estimates of prose writers as to those of 
the poets and dramatists. ... A work which deserves to be be styled 
admirable." — New York Tribune. 

" The work has been most judiciously done and in a literary style and 
perfection of which, alas, the present era has furnished too few examples." 

— Christian at Work. 



MACMILLAN & CO., 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 



A HISTORY 

OF 

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
LITERATURE. 

(1660-1780.) 

BY 

EDMUND GOSSE, M.A., 

Clark Lecturer in English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. 

Price, $1.00, net. 



NOTICES. 



" Mr. Gosse's book is one for the student because of its fulness, its trust- 
worthiness, and its thorough soundness of criticisms; and one for the gen- 
eral reader because of its pleasantness and interest. It is a book, indeed, not 
easy to put down or to part with." 

— Oswald Crawfurd, in Londoii Academy. 
" Mr. Gosse has in a sense preempted the eighteenth century. He is 
the most obvious person to write the history of its literature, and this attrac- 
tive volume ought to be the final and standard work on his chosen theme." 

— The Literary World. 
" We have never had a more useful record of this period." 

— Boston Evening Traveler. 
" A brilliant addition to critical exposition. Written in a finished and 
elegant style, which gives enchantment even to the parts of the narrative of 
a biographical and statistical character, the work illumines obscure writings 
and literature and brings new interest to famous ones. One of its great 
excellences is the easy transition made from one style of writing to another. 
The plan is distinct and well preserved, but the continuity between parts is 
so close that unity and coherence mark the work in a material degree." 

— Boston Journal. 



MACMILLAN & CO., 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 



A HISTORY 

OF 

NINETEENTH CENTURY 
LITERATURE. 

(1780-1895.) 



GEORGE SAINTSBURY, 

Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the 
University of Edinburgh. 



Price, $1.50. 



NOTICES. 

" Mr. George Saintsbury is by all odds the most versatile, sound, and 
entertaining of English literary critics, and his book is deserving of the 
widest reading. In his genial, yet just way of judging he carries us from 
v^owper to the writers of to-day, touching all with the nimbleness of his wit 
and the general unerring accuracy of his opinions." — Boston Traveler. 

" In the clear definition it gives to leading writers, its systematic group- 
ings, and its appreciation of main lines of development, it is wonderfully 
illuminating. The judgments passed upon noteworthy writers . . . afford 
in combination a body of criticism that the student of English literature 
. . . cannot hereafter venture to ignore." — The Beacon. 

"There can be no possible doubt that Mr. Saintsbuiy's work is one of 
the best critical manuals of the period which it covers." 

— Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

" It is an admirable book." — New York Mail and Express. 

"Thorough is the term to apply to Mr. Saintsbury's book; there is the 
stamp of deliberate, scholarly research on every page. . . . Done so well 
as to make it extremely difficult to find fault, is the best proof of the excel- 
lence of his work." — Commercial Advertiser. 



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